§ Mr. L. SMITHasked the Postmaster-General what will be the cost of the new teleprinter; and on what terms business firms will be permitted to make use of it?
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§ Sir K. WOODThe Post Office will be prepared to lease teleprinters for use in two ways: (1) for telegraph exchange service; (2) for sending messages over private wires.
As regards (1), the proposed telegraph exchange service will enable messages to be sent over the public telephone exchange system by means of leased teleprinters, between any two subscribers at any time. I hope it will be possible to provide this as a local service in London within about three months' time, and to extend it to the provinces and to include trunk service by stages during the course of the summer. The rent to be charged will be £65 a year, made up of £50 for the teleprinter and £15 for the necessary associated apparatus (a voice-frequency converter). Teleprinter exchange messages will be charged for like telephone calls.
As regards (2), teleprinters leased from the Post Office will be available for sending messages over any of the renter's private wires. The rental charges stated above will apply, save that on certain types of private wire the technical conditions will not necessitate the use of a voice-frequency converter, and where this is the case, a teleprinter at £50 a year at each end will suffice, if the renter does not wish to communicate with other subscribers over the exchange system.
A teleprinter (with voice-frequency converter) rented for either purpose (1) or (2) above will also be available for the other form of service, without additional charge. The new type of teleprinter is, of course, purchasable from the manufacturers by any firm for internal use over its own line-plant.