ENG-1968 — Page 280

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COMMUNICATIONS

a capacity of 300 voice channels and be capable of handling tele- vision programmes. Provision has also been made for a second Earth Station to work with the Indian Ocean Satellite.

Telephone services in the Colony are provided by the Hong Kong Telephone Company Limited, a public company operating under a government franchise. In collaboration with Cable and Wireless Limited it also provides services to most overseas countries and to ships at sea and moored in the harbour.

The telephone system is fully automatic and comprises more than 425,000 working telephones operating through 38 exchanges. Exchange line rentals are on a flat rate basis of $350 a year for business lines and $235 a year for residential lines, these rates probably being as low as any in the world. Call charges for calls to and from the New Territories were abolished during 1968, and this has led to a considerable increase in demand for telephones in these areas.

The new microwave system connecting the major outlying islands to the rest of the Colony's system has proved beneficial and demand for telephones from the islands has exceeded expectations.

65,000 new lines were installed during 1968, compared with 53,000 in 1967. Five additional exchanges were commissioned during 1968, together with extensions to existing exchanges and associated cable schemes.

The overall demand has continued at a high rate and the growth rate of the system has been about 20 per cent for some years.

The Government's Advisory Committee on Telephone Services reviews the operation, improvement and expansion of telephone services, examines complaints and suggestions from the public, and makes periodical reports to the Governor in Council. Under the chairmanship of an unofficial member of the Legislative Council, it includes five other unofficial members, the Postmaster General and the Deputy Economic Secretary.