Norwich (Hansard, 17 July 1969)

§ Mr. Stonehouse

Of the four exchanges serving Norwich, two have spare capacity to meet growth but Main and North exchanges are currently loaded to capacity. There is no waiting list on North at the moment, and additional equipment which is being installed there should be ready for use in November. This will allow any waiting list which may have developed by that time to be cleared. No further serious difficulties are expected to develop in any exchange but Norwich Main.

Our plans for meeting the rapid growth of telephone service in Norwich were based on developing the present Main exchange site, but since 1965 there have been difficulties in reaching agreement with the city council. Modified planning permission, for small extensions only, has now been given and building is expected to start in June 1970. The extension is expected to be completed and ready for service in 1973. In the meantime, and to bridge the gap, we have had to revise our plans and to adopt a series of expedients. Unfortunately, these allow us much smaller working margins and there will be a risk that the trunk switching equipment may be overloaded at times; therefore, although we shall do our best to avoid serious delays, it is likely that from time to time up to 1973, we will not be able to provide service for all new customers—particularly residential service—as quickly as we would wish.

There are 154—132 residence and 22 business—people waiting for telephones at present, but we hope to meet the 22 applications for business lines during July. We expect that the incidence of cessations will enable us to go on meeting business orders within a few weeks of receiving them and also to give service 169W to some residence cases. Some additional equipment will become available at the Main exchange in January 1970, and we shall then be able to provide service for most, if not all, of the waiting applicants.