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COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSPORT
was the ninth in the series of Lunar New Year stamps. Three stamps representing Hong Kong festivals were issued in July and three depicting Hong Kong birds were issued in October. The specially designed First Day Covers for each of these stamp issues proved more popular than ever.
Telecommunications Services
The Postmaster General, as the Telecommunications Authority, administers the Telecommunications Ordinance governing the establishment and operation of all telecommunications services in Hong Kong. The Postmaster General acts as adviser to the government on general technical matters concerning the provision of all types of telecommunications services, including the operation of the public telephone network, the provision of television services, and the provision of telecommunications services to and from places outside Hong Kong. =
The Post Office issues licences required under the Telecommunications Ordinance, investigates cases of infringement of the ordinance, and instigates legal proceedings where necessary. Post Office staff conduct examinations for the General Certificate in Maritime Communications, the Ministry of Transport Radar Maintenance Certifi- cate, and the Radio Telephony Certificate. The Post Office is also responsible for the control of radio frequencies in Hong Kong; the investigation of complaints of radio interference; and the regular checking of the parameters of civil aviation beacons and ground/air circuits. On behalf of the Director of Marine, Post Office staff carry out the inspection and survey of ship radio stations to ensure compliance with the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea and to advise on the installation of equipment on new vessels. The Post Office plans and makes arrangements for the provision of telephone services for all government departments and provides advisory, installation and maintenance services for a large number of telecommunications and electronic systems and equipment used by government departments.
Telecommunications services within Hong Kong are provided by the Hong Kong Telephone Company. The telephone system is fully automatic, with a flat rate rental allowing unlimited calls within Hong Kong. There are 53 exchanges serving more than one million telephone stations. This represents 23 stations per hundred population-the second highest ratio in Asia, with Japan the highest. Exchange equipment ranges from step-by-step electro-mechanical to common control semi- electronic. The network between exchanges consists largely of pressurised cables. Increasing use is being made of pulse code modulation, of which there are now 360 working systems providing more than 120,000 channel cable miles. The Hong Kong Island exchanges are linked to the New Territories and outlying islands by microwave routes using pulse code modulation. The world's largest capacity telephone cable, containing 6,000 pairs, was installed during 1975.
A variety of systems required by the commercial sector are provided, among them a ships service which enables vessels entering the harbour to be connected to the public telephone network. New facilities being investigated include mobile telephones and a centralised automatic subscribers answering service.