Telephones - fixed lines:
total subscriptions: 27 million
[see also: Telephones - fixed lines - total subscriptions country ranks ]
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 2 (2014 est.)
[see also: Telephones - fixed lines - subscriptions per 100 inhabitants country ranks ]
country comparison to the world: 13
Telephones - mobile cellular:
total: 944 million
[see also: Telephones - mobile cellular - total country ranks ]
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 76 (2014 est.)
[see also: Telephones - mobile cellular - subscriptions per 100 inhabitants country ranks ]
country comparison to the world: 2
Telephone system:
general assessment: supported by recent deregulation and liberalization of telecommunications laws and policies, India has emerged as one of the fastest-growing telecom markets in the world; total telephone subscribership base exceeded 900 million in 2011, an overall teledensity of roughly 75%, and subscribership is currently growing more than 20 million per month; urban teledensity now exceeds 100%, and rural teledensity is steadily growing
domestic: mobile cellular service introduced in 1994 and organized nationwide into four metropolitan areas and 19 telecom circles, each with multiple private service providers and one or more state-owned service providers; in recent years significant trunk capacity added in the form of fiber-optic cable and one of the world's largest domestic satellite systems, the Indian National Satellite system (INSAT), with 6 satellites supporting 33,000 very small aperture terminals (VSAT)
international: country code - 91; a number of major international submarine cable systems, including SEA-ME-WE-3 with landing sites at Cochin and Mumbai (Bombay), SEA-ME-WE-4 with a landing site at Chennai, Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) with a landing site at Mumbai (Bombay), South Africa - Far East (SAFE) with a landing site at Cochin, the i2i cable network linking to Singapore with landing sites at Mumbai (Bombay) and Chennai (Madras), and Tata Indicom linking Singapore and Chennai (Madras), provide a significant increase in the bandwidth available for both voice and data traffic; satellite earth stations - 8 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Inmarsat (Indian Ocean region); 9 gateway exchanges operating from Mumbai (Bombay), New Delhi, Kolkata (Calcutta), Chennai (Madras), Jalandhar, Kanpur, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, and Ernakulam (2011)
Broadcast media:
Doordarshan, India's public TV network, operates about 20 national, regional, and local services; a large and increasing number of privately owned TV stations are distributed by cable and satellite service providers; by 2011, more than 100 million homes had access to cable and satellite TV offering more than 700 TV channels; government controls AM radio with All India Radio operating domestic and external networks; news broadcasts via radio are limited to the All India Radio Network; since 2000, privately owned FM stations have been permitted and their numbers have increased rapidly (2007)
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 149, FM 171, shortwave 54 (2009)
Television - broadcast stations:
1,400 (2009)
Internet hosts:
6.746 million (2012)
country comparison to the world: 17
[see also: Internet hosts country ranks ]
Internet users:
total: 237.3 million
[see also: Internet users - total country ranks ]
percent of population: 19.2% (2014 est.)
[see also: Internet users - percent of population country ranks ]
country comparison to the world: 4