Soviet phones slow or dead

Press, 31 January 1984, Page 20

Soviet phones slow or dead

NZPA-Reuter Moscow Soviet households wait up to 12 years for a telephone and may then find it is dead for months at a time because of line breaks or equipment failures in local exchanges, says a Moscow newspaper. The daily newspaper, “Sovietskaya Rossiya” (Soviet Russia), said the Soviet telephone system was notorious for its poor quality and inefficiency and that the

number of problems was multiplying in spite of new technological developments. For private subscribers even obtaining a telephone was a nightmare in most parts of the country. Waiting lists of 10 to 12 years were common, the report said.

But an even bigger problem was the rate of breakdown of equipment. Lines were often down for months at a time or central switching gear went out of action.

The economic cost was enormous as businesses were often cut off for long periods, the newspaper complained. In the case of farms, such breakdowns could mean having to send cars many kilometres to delivery a two-line message. The newspaper called for more efficiency in the State telecommunications industries, and said that as a first step they should start installing more modem automatic telephone exchanges.