Postal and telecommunications services are the responsibility of the government; there were 38,000 mainline telephones in use in 1999 with an additional 49,000 cellular phones in use in 2000. Radio broadcasting services are provided in English and Chichewa by the Malawi Broadcasting Corp. In 2001 there were 9 AM and 5 FM radio stations and 1 television station. In 2000 there were about 499 radios and 3 television sets for every 1,000 people. Seven Internet service providers were serving 15,000 people in 2000.
The Daily Times, published in English in Blantyre, appears Monday through Friday and had a circulation of 22,000 in 2002. The other major daily publications were Computer Monitor, Michiru Sun, The Enquirer , and U.D.F. News (United Democratic Front). The Malawi News, a weekly, had a circulation of 30,000. Other weeklies include The Independent, The Nation , and The New Express .
Though previously strictly controlled by the government, the media now enjoy new constitutional provisions suspending censorship powers. The government is said to respect these new provisions.
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