Editing Telecommunications in Belgium (section)

==Services==
===Mail===
{{See also|List of postal codes in Belgium}}

Mail regulation is a national competency. Postal service in [[Belgium]] is in many cases performed by [[Bpost|Belgian Post Group]], a semi-private public company. Competitors include [[DHL Express|DHL]] and [[United Parcel Service|UPS]].

[[Postal codes in Belgium]] consist of four digits which indicate regional areas, e.g. "9000" is the postal code for [[Ghent]].

===Telephone===
{{See also|Telephone numbers in Belgium|International Bell Telephone Company}}

The telephone system itself is highly developed and technologically advanced, with full automation in facilities that handle domestic and international telecom. Domestically speaking, the county has a nationwide [[mobile phone|cellular telephone system]] and an extensive network of [[coaxial cable|telephone cables]]. Telephone regulation is a national competency.

The [[country code]] for Belgium is '''32''' and the [[List of international call prefixes|international call prefix]] is '''00'''.

A [[telephone number]] in [[Belgium]] is a sequence of nine or ten numbers dialled on a telephone to make a call on the telephone network in Belgium. Belgium is under a [[telephone numbering plan|closed]] [[Telephone numbering plan#Closed dialing plans|telephone numbering plan]], but retains the trunk code, "0", for all national dialling.

====Fixed telephones====
There were 4.668 million land [[telephone]] lines in use in [[Belgium]] in 2007, a slight decrease on the 4.769 million in use in 1997.

The majority state-owned public [[telephone company]] of Belgium is [[Proximus Group|Proximus]]. Some other or private operators exist, as [[Scarlet (telco)|Scarlet]] ([[Proximus Group|Proximus]]) and [[Base (mobile telephony provider)|Base]] ([[Telenet]]).

====Mobile telephones====
[[Mobile phone|Mobile telephone]] ownership has increased by nearly one thousand percent in the period 1997–2007, from 974,494 to 10.23 million.

There are three licensed [[mobile network operator]]s (MNO) in Belgium, [[Proximus]] ([[Belgacom]]), [[Orange Belgium]] ([[Orange S.A.]]) and [[Telenet (Belgium)|Telenet]]/[[Base (mobile telephony provider)|Base]] and numerous [[mobile virtual network operator]]s (MVNO).

A fourth license will be auctioned off by the government in January 2010.

===Internet===
There were 61 (2003) [[internet service provider]]s in Belgium, serving 8.113 million [[internaut|internet users]] in 2009. The country code for Belgian websites is [[.be]].

In September 2009 in Flanders there were 3,048,260 broadband internet customers (DSL and cable), of which 2,520,481 were residential users and 527,779 business users. Only 65,175 dial-up internet access accounts remained in the residential market and 9,580 in the business market.

====Internet providers====
=====xDSL Internet Providers=====
Belgium has numerous copper cable internet providers:
* [[Altercom]] *End service 2011
* [[Base (mobile telephony provider)|Base]]
* [[Proximus]]
* [[Destiny (telco)|Destiny]]
* [[Digiweb]]
* [[EDPnet]]
* [[Evonet]]
* [[Full Telecom]]
* [[Interxion]]
* [[iPFix]]
* [[LCL (telco)|LCL]]
* [[Mobistar]] ([[Orange S.A.]]) *End service : 2013
* [[Numericable]] ([[France Numericable]])
* [[Perceval (telco)|Perceval]]
* [[Portima]]
* [[Proximedia Group]]
* [[Scarlet (telco)|Scarlet]] ([[Belgacom]])
* [[Verizon Business]] ([[Verizon Communications]])
* [[Ergatel]]

Only Belgacom and Numericable currently offers [[fixed telephony]] and [[digital television]] in a [[triple play (telecommunications)|triple play]] formula. All other companies offer also [[fixed telephony]] in a duo play formula.

=====Cable Internet Providers=====
Belgium has three major fiberglass cable internet providers:
* [[Numéricable]] for the Brussels region ([[Ypso Holding]])
* [[Telenet (Belgium)|Telenet]] for the Flanders and Brussels regions ([[Liberty Global]])
* [[VOO]] for the Walloon and Brussels regions ([[TECTEO]])
*[[Orange Belgium]] use Telenet and VOO network combined
These companies all offer [[fixed telephony]] and [[digital television]] in a [[triple play (telecommunications)|triple play]] formula.
* [[Interoute Managed Services]]
* [[Interxion]]
* [[LCL (telco)|LCL]]
* [[Nucleus (telco)|Nucleus]]
* [[Verizon Business]] ([[Verizon Communications]])

These companies all offer specialised services.

=====Terrestrial Internet Providers=====
* [[Clearwire]] in [[Brussels]], [[Ghent]], [[Leuven]], [[Aalst, Belgium|Aalst]], [[Halle, Belgium|Halle]] and [[Vilvoorde]] ([[Sprint Nextel]])
* [[Perceval (telco)|Perceval]]

=====Satellite Internet Providers=====
* [[Verizon Business]] ([[Verizon Communications]])

=====ISP for public services=====
* The Brussels Regional Informatics Center (BRIC, Centre d'Informatique pour la Région Bruxelloise in French) offers Internet access to public administrations in the [[Brussels-Capital Region]], relying directly on the national [[Belnet]] network and the [[IRISnet]] network.<ref>http://www.irisnet.eu/en?set_language=en regional
</ref>

=====Not categorized=====
Other ISP are [[Chat.be]], [[Connexeon]], [[HostIT]], [[Microsoft Belgium]], [[Netlog]], [[Ulysse]], [[Ven Brussels]], [[Rack66 (EUSIP bvba)]], [[WSD Hosting]].

===Other===
The [[microwave relay]] network is, however, more limited. For international communications, Belgium has 5 submarine cables and a number of satellite earth stations, two of which are [[Intelsat]], and one [[Eutelsat]].