ENG-1973 — Page 212

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COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSPORT

A submarine coaxial cable with a capacity of 80 telephone channels extends west- wards to Singapore and eastwards to Guam where it is extended by other cable systems to Japan and the United States.

Two satellite earth station antennae provide direct links both east and west by way of the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean satellites. The facilities available to Hong Kong by satellite include the international transmission and reception of colour television programmes.

HF radio systems continue to play a useful role and provide communication facilities to 12 countries.

The computerised Message Switching Centre operated by Cable and Wireless handles the traffic of the public telegram service, airline operations and other com- mercial organisations. The system, which comprises four computers, is one of the largest installations of its type in the world, and it currently handles 3.5 million mes- sages per month equivalent to 1,200 million characters.

New Hong Kong headquarters for Cable and Wireless-New Mercury House-- was completed in January 1973. It was designed specifically for telecommunications purposes and is the largest building dedicated to the telecommunications industry in Asia.

Installation of new equipment in the New Mercury House includes a computerised telex exchange and an international telephone exchange. The new telex exchange, which is identical to the one installed in 1972 in the old Mercury House, became opera- tional in July 1973 and carries the majority of telex traffic while the older one is being transferred to the new building. The telex circuit capacity will be doubled when transfer is completed.

The international telephone exchange, which became operational in August 1973, has a capacity of 700 international circuits, providing overseas telephone services to link Hong Kong with the rest of the world.

Telephone service within Hong Kong is provided by the Hong Kong Telephone Company, which is a public company operating under a franchise from the govern- ment. The telephone system is fully automatic and consists of 48 exchanges serving some 9,000,000 telephone stations-21.4 telephones per 100 population, the highest rate in Asia, apart from Japan. Exchange line rentals are on a flat rate basis of $350 a year for business lines and $235 a year for residential lines. No charge is made for calls within Hong Kong. Connection to most overseas countries and to ships at sea is available through the external facilities operated by Cable and Wireless.

The high demand for telephone service has continued and the average annual growth rate for the period 1968-73 is about 16 per cent. Some 100,000 new lines were installed during the year, representing a significant increase over previous years.