Subscriber Trunk Dialling

HC Deb 23 February 1966 vol 725 cc86-7W

49. Mr. Bence

asked the Postmaster-General what progress has been made to date with the introduction of subscriber trunk dialling throughout the United Kingdom.

Mr. Benn

During recent years subscriber trunk dialling has been introduced at an average rate of four exchanges per week and the facility is now available to more than four million subscribers—63 per cent. of the total in the United Kingdom.

54. Mr. Robert Cooke

asked the Postmaster-General whether he will revise the scale of charges whereby a 20-second telephone call to Bristol made from a Members' desk room costs a minimum of 4s. by day though the same call can be made for 4d. if the hon. Member walks 100 yards to the subscriber trunk dialling apparatus near the cloisters.

Mr. Benn

No. This question pinpoints the economies made possible by STD as compared with the costs of the operator service. The higher charge through an operator will buy 3 minutes of time. On STD, time is bought at 2d. a unit and an equivalent 3 minutes will cost 3s.

76. Mr. Carmichael

asked the Postmaster-General by how much the rental of telephones operating on subscriber trunk dialling would require to be increased if all local calls were free and the total income remained as at present.

Mr. Benn

The calculation would involve a disproportionate amount of time and expense and a simple figure would be most misleading. I will write to my hon. Friend and explain the matter more fully.

86. Mr. Gresham Cooke

asked the Postmaster-General whether he will now advise companies and firms outside those cities due to change to all-figure telephone numbers in 1966–69, to display bodly on their notepaper their subscriber trunk dialling code so as to save the time of customers and others doing business with them, as well as the time of Directory Inquiries.

Mr. Benn

No. At the present stage of STD development there are wide variations in the ranges of codes available at individual exchanges and the premature adoption of the hon. Member's suggestion might lead to difficulties at this stage, but I am planning to take action along these lines next year.