Telephones: 12 million (1996)
Telephone system: mediocre; local and long distance service provided throughout all regions of the country, with services primarily concentrated in the urban areas; major objective is to continue to expand and modernize long-distance network in order to keep pace with rapidly growing number of local subscriber lines; steady 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 by microwave radio relay and coaxial cable, with open wire and obsolete electromechanical and manual switchboard systems still in use in rural areas; starting in the 1980s, a substantial amount of digital switch gear has been introduced for local- and long-distance service; long-distance traffic is carried mostly by 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 254 earth stations; cellular telephone service in four metropolitan cities international: satellite earth stations—8 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Inmarsat (Indian Ocean Region); four gateway exchanges operating from Mumbai, New Delhi, Calcutta, and Chennai; submarine cables to Malaysia, UAE, Singapore, and Japan
Radio broadcast stations: AM 153, FM 91, shortwave 62 (1998 est.)
Radios: 111 million (1998 est.)
Television broadcast stations: 562 (82 stations have 1 kW or greater power and 480 stations have less than 1 kW of power) (1997)
Televisions: 50 million (1999 est.)
Transportation
Railways:
total: 62,915 km (12,307 km electrified; 12,617 km double track)
broad gauge: 40,620 km 1.676-m gauge
narrow gauge: 18,501 km 1.000-m gauge; 3,794 km 0.762-m and 0.610-m
gauge (1998 est.)
Highways: total: 3,319,644 km paved: 1,517,077 km unpaved: 1,802,567 km (1996 est.)
Waterways: 16,180 km; 3,631 km navigable by large vessels