Britain’s Telephones HALF-CENTURY OF G.P.O. SERVICES

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29726, 20 January 1962, Page 8

Britain’s Telephones HALF-CENTURY OF G.P.O. SERVICES

[From the Central Office of Information, London]

LONDON, December 21. 0N January 1, 1962, the General Post Office will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of its ownership of almost the whole of the telephone service in Britain. Already in 1895, the Post Office had become responsible for all the long-distance lines linking towns, and early in 1905, the Postmaster-General signed an agreement with the National Telephone Company (which was the major operator of telephone services apart from the Post Office) fixing the conditions under which the Post Office was to take over the whole of the company’s system at the end of 1911—nearly seven years later. (The City of Hull and the Channel Islands still operate independent local systems, which are connected to the Post Office long-distance network).

When the Post Office assumed control of the system, there were 701,000 telephones in the United Kingdom, of which 209,000 (30 per cent.) were in the London area. By 1961, the number had increased twelvefold, and of 8.28 million telephones in use, 2.36 million (28.5 per cent, of the total) were in the Greater London administrative area, very nearly the same proportion. The higher proportion of telephones in Greater London (its population of 8.17 million is only 15.5 per cent, of the total population of Britain) is mainly due to the city’s pre-eminence as a financial and commercial centre. Today, the number of business calls considerably exceeds personal calls. By 1912, London already possessed a substantial underground system of telephone distribution—the first city in the world to do so—which had been constructed by Post

Office engineers. Two notable events in 1912 were the opening of the first automatic exchange, at Epsom, in Surrey, and the general introduction of public telephone kiosks. After the First World War, the Post Office embarked on a vigorous programme of expansion and development involving the adoption of new techniques and the installation of automatic exchanges. In 1919, out of 3258 local exchanges, only 12 were automatic exchanges: but by 1939 their number had risen to 2925 out of 5693 local exchanges, or 51 per cent, of the total. In March 1961 more than 80 per cent, of the 8.28 million telephones were connected with automatic exchanges and the programme for full automatic operation is due to be completed by 1970.

Probably the most radical change in system in the last 50 years was inaugurated in December, 1958, when longdistance dialling by subscribers came into use in Bristol. By March, 1962, this system will have been extended to 300 exchanges serving 1} million subscribers. Further extensions are planned which will cover 90 per cent, of all telephones by 1970. Total capital expediture on the telephone service in 196061 was about £9O million.

The Post Office supplies training facilities and consultative services for telecommunications engineers in many Commonwealth and foreign countries, especially those in which British equipment is used. In 1960. training programmes were arranged for 149 engineering establishment* run by the 1

Post Office Engineering Department and at any one time over 40 junior engineers from about 20 countries were undergoing training. In addition, facilities are provided for qualified overseas engineers to discuss with experts and to visit installations in Britain.

Many overseas administrations and telephone companies use engineering instructions issued by the Post Office Engineering Department. About 200 files of these have been set up in distant places, including Hong Kong and the Falkland Islands. The Engineering Department’s consultative services group is responsible for receiving visitors and trainees from overseas, for the provision of engineering documentation to overseas countries, and for answering technical enquiries, of which some 2000 arrive annually from as many as 77 different territories.