§ Mr. Nealeasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will now approve by licence the Transtel telex teleprinter as suitable for attachment to the public telephone and telex network by the private sector suppliers and end the delay in approval by British Telecom by reserving the power for it to inspect and test answerback equipment on such teleprinters at any time without notice.
§ Mr. ButcherAs my hon. Friend the Member for Malden (Mr. Wakeham) said on 15 March, in c.2, arrangements are being made to allow the private sector to sell direct to the public those telex teleprinter models already supplied by British Telecom. These arrangements will cover the relevant teleprinter manufactured by Transtel Communications Ltd. as well as models made by other manufacturers who currently supply British Telecom. I hope these arrangements can be completed before July but it will be necessary to take account of the new technology public telex exchanges as well as means of verifying the international answerback code.