Ownership of domestic telephone and telegraph services has been transferred from the government to a semiautonomous agency. In 1998, there were 380,000 mainline telephones in use. In 1997, there were about 40,163 cellular phones in use as well. There is an automatic telephone system in San Salvador.
As of 2001 there were 150 licensed radio stations and at least 11 commercial television stations, including the governmentowned Radio Nacional. Radios in use increased from 398,000 in 1968 to about 2.75 million in 1995. In 2000 there were 478 radios and 201 television sets for every 1,000 people. The same year, there were four Internet service providers serving 40,000 subscribers.
The principal newspapers are published in San Salvador. They are, with 2002 circulations, El Diario de Hoy, 115,000; La Prensa Gráfica, 97,300; El Mundo, 58,000; La Noticia, 30,000; and Diario Latino, 15,000.
The constitution of El Salvador provides for freedom of expression, including that of speech and press, and the government is presently said to respect these rights in practice. Print and broadcast journalists are said to freely and regularly criticize the government without censure.
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