Internal transport in Papua New Guinea is expensive, whether to the island provinces or by road on the geologically unstable mainland. There are no railroads and few paved roads. Port Moresby is connected by road to only two other provinces and not to any other major population centres. The port city of Lae is linked to Madang on the north coast, and the Okuk (Highlands) Highway connects Lae to the major Highland towns and the Tari gas fields, but it is occasionally blocked for days because of landslides and inadequate maintenance. The rural road network, already in poor repair, is often damaged by heavy rainfall.

For places not served by the Highlands road network, air transport is required to travel between the small towns of each province and between Port Moresby and other population centres. Overseas air access is via the international airport at Port Moresby. 

Papua New Guinea previously had more regularly operative airstrips per 1,000 population than almost any other country in the world, but the number of small airstrips serving remote outstations fell off rapidly in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Reasons for the decline included the expansion of the road network, lack of funding, and a reduction in government staffing and official air charters.

Electronic media expanded dramatically in the early 21st century, with a network of cellular telephone transmitters covering all heavily populated areas and even remote regions. Cellular phone usage far surpasses the use of landlines. Computer usage is low, however, partly because of the lack of infrastructure. Although only a small proportion of the population has access to the Internet, it is used extensively by those who do, notably political bloggers.

Government and society