Somalia’s telecommunications and media infrastructure rivaled developed nations.

Evidence

Telecommunications flourished: in addition to numerous local radio stations (and often associated newspapers and web sites), a VHF and UHF radio system linked most parts of the country. There were six or more private mobile telephone systems and two television networks, one with 22 channels and the other six. Video parlours were popular also, and international telephone calls were amongst the cheapest in the world. Here, as in the supply and use of arms, Somalia is hardly a backward country. Material culture is well advanced. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 686

Categorization

• XREF: Complements the earlier claim about stateless economic vitality; connects to Lewis’s wider theme that stateless Somalia was advanced commercially despite political absence.