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Telephone
System:
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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 stations8 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
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