§ 40. Mr. Allasonasked the Postmaster-General what is the average estimated waiting time before a telephone can be provided to a subscriber on the Tring exchange; and what was the corresponding time in October, 1964.
§ Mr. Joseph SlaterThe exchange is now fully loaded and new customers can be connected only to the extent that numbers are freed by people giving up service. I regret it will not be possible to connect most of those now waiting until a mobile relief exchange and additional cables are available in about a year's time. Records of the waiting periods in October, 1964, are no longer available. Since then 984 customers have been connected.
§ Mr. AllasonIs the hon. Gentleman satisfied with that performance, with people being asked to wait a year before they are connected? Why cannot he produce the mobile exchange much more quiukly?
§ Mr. SlaterWe would like to do many of these things, but the growth that we planned for has been exceeded. Manufacturers have doubled their output in about two years. We are still short of exchange equipment. We will endeavour to bring mobile equipment into use wherever we can. This is a big area to cover.