§ Mr. A. Lewisasked the Postmaster-General on what basis he estimates that the introduction of subscriber trunk dialling has saved telephone subscribers £12 million per year; and to what extent revenue from telephone subscribers has fallen since the introduction of subscriber trunk dialling.
§ Mr. BevinsThe estimated saving of £12 million represents the difference between the sums which subscribers on S.T.D. exchanges paid for dialled trunk and local calls in 1963–64 and what they would have paid for the same calls at the non-S.T.D. tariff.
The lower costs per call to the subscriber has been more than offset by the rapid growth in the number of calls made and this, far from reducing revenue, has increased it.