Concept: Telephone Service

Details

A one hundred-line telephone exchange was installed in Honiara 1954 and opened on 26 June by the High Commissioner. The system had lines extending as far as Kukum (Fighter II) Airfield in the east and Rove in the west. That year small telephone systems were also installed at the Auki and Gizo government stations. In early 1963, the Legislative Council raised a £15,000 loan to replace Honiara's manual telephone exchange with an automatic service. Later in the year a radio-telephone circuit was opened to Suva with connections to New Zealand. In November 1966 telephone links were established between Honiara, Auki and Gizo. Telephone calls from public phones were free until 1968. (NS 15 Jan. 1963, 30 Sept. 1963, 21 Nov. 1966, 7 Jan. 1967, 14 Feb. 1968)

Published resources

Journals

• British Solomon Islands Protectorate (ed.), British Solomon Islands Protectorate News Sheet (NS), 1955-1975. Details