Telephone system: probably the least adequate telephone system of any of the industrializing countries; three of every four villages have no telephone service; only 5% of India's villages have long-distance service; poor telephone service significantly impedes commercial and industrial growth and penalizes India in global markets; slow improvement is taking place with the recent admission of private and private-public investors, but demand for communication services is also growing rapidly domestic: local service is provided mostly by open wire and obsolete electromechanical and manual switchboard systems; within the last 10 years a substantial amount of digital switch gear has been introduced for local service; long-distance traffic is carried mostly by open wire, coaxial cable, and low-capacity microwave radio relay; since 1985, however, significant trunk capacity has been added in the form of fiber-optic cable and a domestic satellite system with over 100 earth stations international: satellite earth stations-8 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Inmarsat (Indian Ocean Region); submarine cables to Malaysia and UAE
Radio broadcast stations: AM 96, FM 4, shortwave 0
Radios: 70 million (1992 est.)
Television broadcast stations: 274 (government controlled)
Televisions: 33 million (1992 est.)
@India:Transportation
Railways: total: 62,660 km (12,296 km electrified; 12,617 km double track) broad gauge: 39,612 km 1.676-m gauge narrow gauge: 19,210 km 1.000-m gauge; 3,838 km 0.762-m and 0.610-m gauge (1995 est.)
Highways: total: 2.06 million km paved: 1,034,120 km unpaved: 1,025,880 km (1996 est.)
Waterways: 16,180 km; 3,631 km navigable by large vessels
Pipelines: crude oil 3,005 km; petroleum products 2,687 km; natural gas 1,700 km (1995)