two for each 100 persons and a waiting
list of over 2 million, demand for main line telephone service will
not be satisfied for a very long time

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 significant trunk capacity has
been added in the form of fiber-optic cable and a domestic satellite
system with 254 earth stations; mobile cellular service is provided
in four metropolitan cities

international: satellite earth stations - 8 Intelsat (Indian Ocean)
and 1 Inmarsat (Indian Ocean region); nine gateway exchanges
operating from Mumbai (Bombay), New Delhi, Kolkata (Calcutta),
Chennai (Madras), Jalandhar, Kanpur, Gaidhinagar, Hyderabad, and
Ernakulam; 4 submarine cables - LOCOM linking Chennai (Madras) to
Penang; Indo-UAE-Gulf cable linking Mumbai (Bombay) to Al Fujayrah,
UAE; India-SEA-ME-WE-3, SEA-ME-WE-2 with landing sites at Cochin and
Mumbai (Bombay); Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) with
landing site at Mumbai (Bombay) (2000)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 153, FM 91, shortwave 68 (1998)

Radios: 116 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations: 562 (of which 82 stations have 1 kW
or greater power and 480 stations have less than 1 kW of power)
(1997)

Televisions: 63 million (1997)

Internet country code: .in

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 43 (2000)

Internet users: 4.5 million (2000)

India 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)

Waterways: 16,180 km

note: 3,631 km navigable by large vessels

Pipelines: crude oil 3,005 km; petroleum products 2,687 km; natural
gas 1,700 km (1995)

Ports and harbors: Chennai (Madras), Cochin, Jawaharal Nehru,
Kandla, Kolkata (Calcutta), Mumbai (Bombay), Vishakhapatnam

Merchant marine: total: 315 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling
6,433,831 GRT/10,691,973 DWT

ships by type: bulk 117, cargo 70, chemic