THE PRESS THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1985. Untoward toll call delays

Press, 14 March 1985, Page 12

THE PRESS THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1985. Untoward toll call delays

In this age of rapid communication, Christchurch is increasingly isolated from the rest of the country because of an inadequate telephone toll service. During peak hours the demand for lines in and out of Christchurch jams the system; long delays are inescapable during business hours. The Post Office is not unaware of the problem. It hardly could be, given the number of complaints it receives about toll call delays. The cost to businesses and the country in time, money, effort, and productive capacity is exorbitant and unnecessary. The information from the Post Office that the overload should ease later this year — and should be relieved fully when an expansion programme is completed late next year — offers hope, but is of little consolation to businesses and people who are being put to expense and inconvenience now. The Post Office admits that the present bottleneck occurred because it had not predicted the growth in traffic. With this history, subscribers have little more than faith to assure them that the Post Office is right in its latest predictions of an end to the present unsatisfactory regime. Suggestions that people should wait until off-peak hours before lodging toll calls, or that

toll users should try to cut down on personal conversations during business hours, are very lame offerings to a public that is entitled to expect the level of service for which it is charged. The expansion of systems in Wellington, Christchurch, and eventually Dunedin and Invercargill — the areas worst affected by the shortage of toll circuits — will cost millions of dollars. This should not pose a problem for a monopoly State enterprise that made a profit of $265 million from telecommunications alone in the 1983-84 financial year.

Ploughing Post Office profits back into capital development is the sole justification for the level of Post Office charges, notwithstanding the present Government’s decision to plunder the profits for payments “in lieu of tax and a dividend to its shareholders.” If these tax-by-proxy payments are limiting the ability of the Post Office to expand its services to meet demand, they should be discontinued. Neither a lack of money nor a lack of foresight is an acceptable reason for depriving telephone subscribers in Christchurch of the standard of service for which they pay, to which they are entitled, and which are enjoyed by subscribers in other parts of the country.