major exchanges in Wan Chai and Kwun Tong have been brought into service during the past twelve months.
79. Implementation of proposals made by the British Post Office Consultative Services Department in a report presented after a survey of the telephone requirements of the Colony is now in progress.
Other Communications
80. Cable and Wireless are responsible for all telegraph, telex and radiotelephone services between Hong Kong and countries overseas. At the end of the year under review, the Company completed Stage I of the Southeast Asia Commonwealth Cable (SEACOM) linking Hong Kong, Jesselton and Singapore. It was inaugurated on 31st March.
81. SEACOM is an important contribution to the telecommunication services operated from Hong Kong. It supplies a large number of channels which can be used for telegraph, telex, telephone, facsimile and voicecast purposes.
82. The superiority of cable over wireless is seen particularly in the overseas telephone service. Because of the improved clarity of speech, and the semi-automatic working introduced, the number of calls from Hong Kong to Malaysia rose by 72.8% within four weeks of the in- auguration.
83. The public use of all telecommunication services increased correspondingly to the growth of the Colony's economy in general.
84. Telex, which provides attractive facilities, continued to gain popularity during the year. The number of subscribers increased by 37%, and new services were established with Jamaica, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Surinam, Uruguay, Trinidad, Barbados, Dakar, Aden, U.S.S.R., Guam and Ceylon. Two direct circuits, Hong Kong/Karachi and Hong Kong/Bangkok, were opened for local and relay calls to and from Pakistan and Thailand. A semi-automatic telex exchange was set up, and incoming calls are now automatically connected.
85. Overseas telephone working schedules were extended to meet increased demand for service with Malaysia, Cambodia, the United States, the Philippines, Saigon and Colombo. Cable and Wireless Ltd. now maintain telephone service with ninety other countries in the world.
86. The use of the Harbourphone service was still on the increase. Short-range and long-range radiotelephone services with ships and the
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