P.O. to continue big spending on Telecom

Press, 15 February 1986, Page 8

P.O. to continue big spending on Telecom

Wellington reporter

Telecommunication services will take most of the Post Office’s estimated capital expenditure of $7OO million in 1986-87. About $630 million is expected to go Telecom services, the Post Office’s biggest business, where demand is forecast to increase 8 per cent a year between 1986-87 and 199091.

The Postmaster-Gen-eral, Mr Hunt, said emphasis would put on closing the gap between supply and demand, expanding the range of business services offered, and improving the telecommunications infrastructure to handle the ever-increas-ing number of installations.

Hundreds of thousands of high quality push-but-ton telephones could be installed in homes and

businesses. Types available would include the standard “pert” telephone, new designs such as the Statesman and Masterset range, and telephones for specialist applications including loudspeaking telephones, computer telephones, and money market telephones. Push-button telephones providing faster connections and greater clarity of reception would be provided to nearly 40,000 new subscribers and 12 exchanges that would be converted from manual to automatic. Mr Hunt said each new telephone would be accompanied by a Telecom plug and socket connection giving complete portability. About 10,000 business systems of all sizes would be provided, ranging from six to 2000 lines. Work would begin on a

number of new post offices to improve facilities, including Rlccarton, estimated to cost $569,000, and Sydenham, estimated at $183,000. About $4B million would be spent on electronic data-processing systems, of which $lB million would go towards modernising the Post Office Savings Bank network. In the South Island, 760 vehicles would be converted to L.P.G., saving more than $4 million in fuel costs. In the North Island 600 would be converted to C.N.G. Although estimated capital expenditure of about $7OO million was perhaps large by New Zealand standards, the Government was convinced that to defer capital expenditure would not be in the nation’s interest, Mr Hunt said.