Country code: 44. There are numerous public call boxes. Some boxes take coins, others phonecards or credit cards.

Roaming agreements exist with most international mobile phone operators. Coverage is mostly good, but can be patchy in rural areas.

There are Internet cafes and centres in most urban areas. Some multimedia phone booths, often located at main railway stations and airports, offer touch-screen access.

Stamps are available from post offices and many shops and stores. There are stamp machines outside some post offices. Post boxes are red. First-class internal mail normally reaches its destination the day after posting (except in remote areas of Scotland), and most second-class mail the day after that. International postal connections are good.

Post office hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1730 and Sat 0900-1230, although some post offices are open much longer hours.

The British media are free and able to report on all subjects. The variety of publications reflects the full spectrum of political opinion.

Dominated by about 10 major newspapers, UK circulation figures are amongst the highest in the world.
• Broadsheets are The Daily Telegraph, The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Observer (on Sunday) and The Times.
• The more popular tabloid newspapers are The Daily Express, The Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror and The Sun.
• Most papers have an associated Sunday newspaper, though there are some independents.
• There are also daily regional newspapers.
• The London Evening Standard is produced in several editions daily, the first being at midday.

The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) is funded by a licence fee, which all households with a TV set must pay. There is no advertising on BBC1 and BBC2. Commercial TV began in 1955 with the launch of ITV.
• BBC TV operates BBC1, BBC2 and digital services including BBC News 24 and BBC World, a commercially-funded international news channel.
• ITV is a major commercial network, organised around regional franchises.
• Channel 4 is a commercially funded but publicly owned national station.
• Five is a national commercial channel.
• Independent Television News (ITN) supplies news to ITV and Channel 4.
• British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) operates digital satellite TV platform, Sky, and provides film, entertainment channels and news channel Sky News.
• There are many other privately owned TV channels.

• BBC Radio's national services include music stations Radio 1 and Radio 2, cultural network Radio 3, flagship speech station Radio 4 and news and sport station Five Live.
• BBC Radio also has regional broadcasts (see individual country sections).
• BBC Asian Network targets Asian communities in the UK.
• BBC World Service can be heard worldwide via shortwave and increasingly on FM relays; it has programmes in more than 40 languages.
• Commercial stations include music station Virgin Radio, sports station Talk Sport and classical music station Classic FM.
• There are hundreds of privately owned radio stations.