That Was Jersey |
Local history for everyone |
CHANNEL ISLANDS |
The telephone grew from being an invention that made immediate communication between two nearby places theoretically possible, to the service we now expect with instant international connections. During the latter part of Victoria’s reign the use of the telephone slowly spread to include links for wealthy people.
Jersey's first telephone exchange opened in 1895, and the service was provided by the National Telephone Company in St Helier. At first there were few subscribers to the new service. The UK Post Office took over the service in 1912, and ran it for 11 years, before the States bought the service from them in 1923.
By this time there were about 1,500 households and businesses connected, and the service was provided by 14 exchanges across the Island. In 1931 the first link was made into the UK telephone network.
The telephone was welcomed by some of the local tradesmen as a valuable means of communication. As early as 1905, several of the trade advertisements in the Almanac give phone numbers. One of the earliest companies to be advertised in this way was Cooper & Son, tea blenders and coffee roasters. Their telephone number is given as 352 in the 1905 almanac. Their current number is 733352; as more numbers were needed for more users, digits were added to the front of the number. The addition of a 7 at the front of a five-digit number has occurred within the last 10 years. So Cooper & Son have kept the same basic phone number for over 100 years. There may be other companies which have done the same.
During the Occupation the German forces took over the system, although the civilian lines were allowed to continue operating. All communication with the outside world had been forbidden so only local calls could be made. These were of course always subject to the rule of the occupying forces.
However, things changed dramatically in the late 1940s as the Island returned to normal. By 1948, there were nearly 10,000 customers, and the number of local calls made each week averaged 130,000.
Changes in technology followed relentlessly through the second half of the 20th century. The first automatic exchange came in 1960, and in 1966 further developments meant that most calls to the UK could be dialled direct, instead of going through an operator. By 1976, direct dialling had opened up to include most international calls. Computer controlled exchanges came next, and made Jersey's telephone services completely compatible with the UK.
Mobile phones started with a radio paging network in 1979, followed by analogue mobile services in 1987. Early mobile phones were large and heavy, and nothing like the small, light phones in use today. The GSM digital network came in 1994, and by the end of 2003 over 90% of the population had a mobile phone.
The Internet had a big impact on telecommunications, first with dial-up connections and from 2000 with high-speed / Broadband services. By March 2006, there were 15,000 broadband connections in the Island.