Communication

Telecommunication services are globally recognized as one of the driving forces for overall economic development in a nation and are one of the fastest growing industries in India. Today, India stands as the second largest telecommunication market in the world. With the government's favorable regulation policies and 4G services hitting the market, rapid growth is expected in the Indian telecommunication sector in the next few years. The introduction of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) has made the Indian Telecom market more competitive in terms of service offering quality. The telecom sector has played a crucial role in attracting FDI in India. Indian telecom sector has witnessed a continuous rising trend in the total number of telephone subscribers from a meager 22.8 million telephone subscribers (wireless + wireline) in 1999, it has grown to 970 million at the end of Dec., 2014, according to the latest report by Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) reaching to teledensity of 77.58. The total number of urban subscribers today stand at 569.56 million and rural subscribers at 388.05 million. Wireless telephone connections have contributed to this growth as the number of wireless connections rose to 935.3 million at the end of October, 2014.

The total number of landline connections issued by the public sector undertaking BSNL by the end of March, 2014, was 249903 including 63248 WLL connections in the state. The number of wireline telephones is decreasing continuously. During the year 2013-14 , the wireline telephones have recorded decrease of 16462 connections with a number of 10156 landline and 6306 WLL connections registering a fall of -6.18 % over the previous year with -5.16 % in landline and -9.06% in WLL connections. In the wireline telephone connections, including WLL, major share of 45.21 % is held by Service Switching Authority (SSA) Srinagar followed by 35.21 % of SSA, Jammu.

The decline in landline phones is mainly due to the wide penetration of mobile phones. The emergence of the mobile has benefitted people across all walks of life. Going forward, it is expected to play a significant role in bridging the digital divide between the rich and the poor, between near and far, thus in connecting the nation. The rapid rise of high end mobile phones (smart phones) has enabled the customers to access and utilize numerous software applications as utility or for entertainment.

The total number of mobile phones issued by BSNL in J&K as on 31-03-2014 is 1207895. SSA Srinagar has the highest number of mobile connections (470071) followed by SSA Jammu (390544).

Tele density
Number of telephone connections for every hundred individuals in an area. The overall Teledensity in India increased from 76.36 at the end of August 2014 to 76.75 at the end of September 2014. The overall Teledensity for J&K state is 69.98. Rural Teledensity is 45.6 and urban Teledensity is 132.73 for J&K state. Wireless Teledensity in India have increased to 74.55 at the end of September 2014. The urban wireless teledensity has increased to 142.39 and rural wireless Teledensity to 44.32 in the month of September 2014 as per the report of TRAI.

Video Conferencing
Video conferencing is playing a vital role in changing the working of the government offices, educational institutions and healthcare facilities.

Office Automation
The automation of government offices has resulted in a substantial transformation of the decision making process from the usual typing -oriented methods, to hi-tech word processing, with concomitant benefits in the form of improved staff productivity, better quality documents and faster dissemination of information. The office automation also includes providing electronic mail services to the users, ideal for achieving a fast pace of communication.
As per the data available on 31-03-2014, the number of internet connections in J&K issued by BSNL was 51141 out of which the maximum 50.72% were issued by SSA, Srinagar, followed by SSA, Srinagar. SSA Udhampur, Rajouri and Leh have a collective share of 15% in the total internet connectivity of the state. The number of internet connections per thousand of population is measured 5.07 as on 31-03-2014.

Post offices
India has the largest postal network in the world with over 154979 post offices (as on 31.03.2010) out of which 1,39,182 (89.81%) are in rural areas. Post offices in urban and rural areas provide a range of basic postal services to the customers including banking and insurance services.
Postal services being an important communication channel are on a fast track to modernization in J&K. The J&K postal circle serve the entire state spread over an area of approx.222236 sq. kms. with a population of 12541302. The total post offices in J&K are 1699 out of which 03 are seasonal post offices which function for only two months during Amarnath yatra period. Out of these1699 post offices, 09 are head offices, 256 are sub post offices and the remaining 1434 post offices are Extra Departmental Branch Office (EDBO's).

On an average, 01 post office serves 7382 people as on 31-03-2014 in the state as per census 2011. Across the districts, there are huge inequalities in the postal services. In the postal infrastructure, collective share of six major districts viz. Jammu (11.47%), Rajouri (7.82%), Kathua (7.71%), Baramulla (7.42%) ,Anantnag(7.35%) and Udhampur (6.59%) is around 48% leaving the another half number of post offices to be shared by 16 remaining districts of the state. Against state's average figure of 7382 people per post office, 12 districts avail the services below state average and 10 districts above state average. Leh and Kargil are the two districts where on an average, one post office is available below three thousand people. On the other end of the spectrum, Srinagar, Shopian, Kupwara , Ganderbal have one post office per 17925, 17748, 11158 and 10257 people respectively. On an average, one post office has to cover 130.80 sq Kms. in the State as on 31.03.2014. As per this indicator, three top districts are Ganderbal, Kulgam and Bandipura where one post office has to cater to less than 10 sq Km viz. 8.93 sq kms, 8.36 sq.kms.and 6.38 sq.kms. respectively. Contrarily, 3 district termed as bottom line are Leh, Kargil and Doda, where one post office has to cover more than 200 sq Kms. and the relative figures are 820.18 sq.kms, 264.80sq. kms. and 202.50 sq.kms. respectively.

Department of posts, J&K circle has mechanized 'Same day delivery of Express Parcels' in Jammu. It has made the delivery of the parcels faster and more convenient enabling real time (online) tracking of parcels. This service by the department of posts is proving a boon for business firms associated with Tourism industry as they dispatch large number of handicrafts, blankets etc. to various places in other states. The service of electronic money order (Emo) is being provided to the customers by the post offices having internet connectivity. Besides this, there are number of schemes provided by the post office saving bank and these include Savings account schemes, Recurring deposits schemes, Time deposits schemes, Public provident fund schemes, Senior citizen savings schemes etc.