Telekom Malaysia is the national phone company, and the service is generally reliable. Applications for landlines must be made at a Telekom Malaysia office. Foreigners are either required to pay a RM1000+ deposit, or have a local Malaysian co-sign their application.

International phone calls can be made very cheaply using a pre-paid IDD card. These can be bought from the handphone shops which can be found everywhere in shopping malls and elsewhere in towns.

Handphones (the term used in Malaysia for mobile or cell phones) are very popular and there is a range of providers to choose from. Most offer either pre-paid or billed services.

Broadband and wireless internet services are accessible in a growing area of KL and other major cities, while dial-up internet services are available via landlines. TMNet's Streamyx is the most popular broadband internet access service. Some restaurants and coffee shops in KL and other cities have wireless access points for connecting to the internet.

Malaysia has a fairly reliable postal service although it can be somewhat inefficient in more remote areas. Post offices can be found in all towns and follow Government business hours. Malaysia's customs authorities enforce strict regulations on items such as firearms, medication, books, videos etc., and often go through parcels carefully before clearing them for delivery or collection. There may therefore be long delays in the receipt of parcels.

Malaysia has strict censorship laws, as the Government is keen to protect the largely-Muslim population from certain foreign influences. TV news, entertainment shows and music videos are all subject to censorship and scenes are often cut before programmes are broadcast.

Television in Malaysia consists of both commercial networks and pay-TV. There is a very popular multichannel satellite service - Astro - which includes news, movies, educational and children's channels in English, as well as Chinese, Tamil and Arabic channels. The state-owned Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) operates two TV channels and many of the country's radio stations.

There is a wide range of national and local English-language newspapers, as well as others published in Malay, Chinese and other languages. The main English-language dailies are The New Straits Times, The Star, the Business Times and The Malay Mail. Bernama is the national state-run news agency.