Belgium.—Belgium has had telephone communication with London by submarine cable since 1903. There are now four cables between Belgium and England. Long distance cables connect the main centres with the French, German and Netherlands frontiers. The complete system comprises over 600 miles of large telephone and telegraph cables.
Czechoslovakia.—A total mileage of about 800 miles of toll cables is now in service or under construction and plans are under way for greatly extending the existing system.
France.—The Paris-Strasbourg cable opened in 1926, is 3o8 miles long and connects with the German long distance cable system. Additional telephone cables run from Paris to Havre 13o miles, from Paris to Bordeaux-241 miles, and from Paris to Boulogne-158 miles, the latter forming part of the main line connecting the British and French telephone systems. A total of twelve submarine cables has been laid across the English Channel. Construction work was begun in 1927 on a 3I0-mile cable between. Paris and Lyons. In all, France has some 4,000 miles of long dis tance cable in operation, and additional mileage under construction.
Germany.—Extension of long distance telephone cables has been very rapid, the network covering the entire country and linking up practically all important centres. Germany, early in had about 8,000 miles of long distance telephone cables. The cable system connects with the Swiss, Dutch, French, Aus trian, Belgian, Czechoslovakian and Polish systems, and a total of 75o miles of submarine telephone cable connects with Scandi navian countries and with East Prussia. The telephone circuit through cable from Berlin to London passes through the Nether lands and is approximately 86o miles in length.
Great Britain.—The main cable routes centring in London extend, respectively, to Glasgow via Leeds, Newcastle and Edin burgh, to Manchester and Liverpool, to South Wales via Reading and Bristol and to Portsmouth and Southampton. The interna tional telephone connections with America utilizing the radio re ceiving station at Cupar, Scotland, and the transmitting station at Rugby, also centre at London, messages over the transatlantic circuit to and from either British or Continental points passing through the metropolis. In 1927, Great Britain had long distance telephone cables aggregating well over 6,000 miles. Direct sub
marine telephone cables connect Great Britain with France, Bel gium and Holland, and British telephone users can talk not only with these countries, but also with Germany, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Spain, etc.
Netherlands.—The first inter-urban telephone cable in Holland was opened in 1921. The main cities are now connected by means of cables and a cable has been carried eastward to the German border. Three submarine cables connect with Great Britain.
Hungary.—A long distance cable connects Budapest with Vienna and further extension of the cable system is planned.
Italy.—In 1924, a long distance cable system totaling 184 miles of cable was opened for service. Extensive expansion of this sys tern is in progress, a submarine telephone cable to the island of Sardinia recently having been completed.
Sweden.—Sweden has a telephone cable 335 miles long con necting Stockholm and Gothenburg. Other cables connecting with the German and Danish systems bring the total length of Swedish long distance cables, including part of the submarine cables, to over 4,00o miles.
Switzerland.—The Swiss cable network including some 1,400 miles of cable, connects the main cities and, by means of connec tions to the various frontiers, provides important facilities for international traffic.
Telephone cable construction in Europe has progressed so rap idly in recent years that the gaps which had previously existed in the various national networks are being closed one after another so as to provide the Continent with an effective international long distance telephone cable system.
Status of the Telephone Throughout the World, 1934.— Figures 3, 4, and 5 indicate the status of the telephone throughout the world at the latest date for which comprehensive statistics covering practically all countries are available at the time of writ ing. On January r, 1934 there was a grand total of telephones in service in all tele phone systems throughout the world. Approximately 51 per cent. of all the telephones in the world on January 1, 1934 were in the United States, the total for that country being 16,710,858.