Country Information

Country Code: . Public phone boxes are unreliable, and visitors will find it cheaper to use phones in centros de llamadas (call centres) in towns, or at internet cafes.

Roaming agreements exist with most international mobile phone companies. Coverage is good in built-up areas, less so outside of the towns. It is also cheap and easy to buy your own if you are in the country for any length of time although calls are not especially cheap.

Pre-paid SIM cards can be used in unblocked phones allowing cheaper calls within Chile. For all-round country coverage, Claro is Chile's largest network.

Internet cafés are open all hours in the main towns and tourist areas. Many hotels and hostels will have access to the internet which is relatively cheap at around US$1 for 30 minutes, while free Wi-Fi is also becoming increasingly popular, with many hotels offering this.

Chile enjoys a reasonable level of press freedom, which is now enshrined in the constitution. There is, however, a heavy conservative tilt to the media, which has never quite redressed the imbalance of the Pinochet-era restrictions. The Santiago Times is the only English language daily in Chile whilst Spanish dailies include El Mercurio, La Tercera, conservative evening newspaper La Segunda, business newspaper El Diario, and government-run La Nación. The Patagonia Times concentrates on news in the country's south.

Television was introduced in 1957 and national broadcasters include Canal 13, which is part-owned by the Catholic church, UCV Televisión, Chilevisión (owned by Sebastián Piñera, the Chilean politician and businessman widely tipped to become the next president), TVN, Mega, RED TV and Telecanal. Although state-owned, National Television of Chile is not under direct government control. Radio stations include Radio Nacional de Chile, news-based national commercial network Radio Cooperativa and music-based Radio Horizonte. Santiago Radio is a fledgling English-language online station.

The postal service, Correos de Chile (www.correos.cl), is reasonably reliable. Airmail to Europe and the USA takes anything from four days to a week.

Mon-Fri 0830-1900; Sat 0830-1300. The central post office in Santiago is located at Plaza de Armas 559. Post offices in villages are likely to have reduced opening hours.