Country code: 421. Public telephone booths are widely available, including special kiosks for international calls. Surcharges can be quite high on long-distance calls from hotels. Dial 112 for all emergency services.

Roaming agreements exist with most international mobile phone companies. Coverage is good, extending over the whole country, with the exception of remote areas.

There are Internet cafes in main towns.

Post office hours: Mon-Fri 0800-1800.

The constitution guarantees freedom of expression. All major daily newspapers are private and there are over 20 private radio stations. The introduction of commercial TV in the 1990s caused public broadcaster Slovak TV to lose a significant amount of viewers, with private TV broadcaster Markiza now claiming much of the audience. Cable and satellite TV are widely watched. Channels from neighbouring countries, such as the Czech Republic and Hungary, have a sizeable audience.

• The Slovak Spectator, the Slovak Republic's English-language newspaper, is published weekly.
• Slovak Foreign Trade is published monthly by the Slovak Chamber of Commerce.
• The principal dailies are Novy Cas, Pravda and Sme.
• Popular weekly Slovak magazines include Plus 7 dni, Slovenka and Zivot.

• Slovak TV is the public broadcaster.
• TV Markiza, TA3 and TV Joj are all commercial networks.

• Slovak Radio is a public broadcaster, operating five national networks and an external service.
• Radio Expres, Radio Okey and Radio Twist are all commercial stations, as is Fun Radio, a commercial news agency.