ENG-1969 — Page 262

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COMMUNICATIONS

In order to handle the increasing volume of telegraph traffic, a computer was installed during 1969. The computer can store 130,000,000 telegraph characters and by the end of 1969 was hand- ling 2,000,000 messages a month.

To provide for increased telex demand a new fully automatic telex exchange providing many additional facilities will be installed during 1970.

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 telephone communication to most overseas countries and to ships at sea and moored in the harbour.

The telephone system is fully automatic and consists of more than 500,000 working telephones operating through 40 exchanges. Exchange line rentals are on a flat rate basis of $350 a year for business lines and $235 a year for residential lines. There is no charge made for local calls and the telephone service in Hong Kong is one of the cheapest in the world.

The abolition in 1968 of call charges for calls to and from the New Territories and outlying islands has greatly stimulated the demand for telephones in these areas.

Some 70,000 new lines were installed during 1969 compared with 65,000 in 1968. Two additional telephone exchanges were commis- sioned in 1969 together with extensions to existing exchanges and the necessary cable schemes associated with this expansion of the system.

The overall demand has continued at a high rate and the annual growth rate of about 20 per cent has been maintained 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.