Soviet Union Information Bureau


COMMUNICATIONS


ALL forms of public communications, postal, telephone, telegraph and radio, are conducted by the People's Commissariat for Posts and Telegraphs.

MAIL SERVICE.- The mail service has grown far beyond its pre-war limitations and is steadily being extended.

Number of localities with mail service:

1913 12,335
1924-25 105,159
1925-26 228,722
1926-27 240,980

Number of pieces mailed, in hundreds of thousands:

1913 978
1924-25 844
1925-26 1,095
1926-27 1,234

Revenue and expenditure of the postal service, in millions of rubles:

Revenue Expenditure
1924-25 96.3 96.1
1925-26 136.6 133.7
1926-27 155.9 160.7

Other statistics of mail service follow:

1913 1923-24 1924-25 1925-26 1926-27
Post offices, main 1,399 1,005 863 308 267
Branches 4,085 5,810 5,072 3,481 3,045
Railway post offices 135 138 138 129 120
Regular agencies 2,393 3,331 4,270
Agencies connected with other institutions 7,125 2,957 8,465 5,737 6,000
Traveling agencies 2,262 4,249 2,583 2,200
Rural mail-carriers 6,938 16,008 17,000
Length of mail lines:
Railway (Km.) 58,650 73,280 75,790 78,150 78,150
Water 31,930 47,250 53,570 71,660 71,310
Air 5,840 5,000 6,520 6,850
Highway 170,900 164,360 630,830 937,780 937,340

Telephones: Number of telephone exchanges:

1913 572
1923-24 2,005
1924-25 2,237
1925-26 2,885
1926-27 3,084

Length of telephone lines, in kilometers:

1923-24 77,291
1924-25 82,067
1925-26 90,268
1926-27 93,308

Telephone subscribers at end of year:

1913 202,006
1923-24 121,275
1924-25 157,366
1925-26 188,697
1926-27 215,266

TELEGRAPH.- Length of telegraph lines, in kilometers:

1913 124,708
1923-24 121,273
1924-25 114,662
1925-26 144,512
5926-27 142,686

Radio.- Radio is being used increasingly as a means of communication. Fifty-seven broadcasting stations were in operation in March, 1928. Radio newspapers are broadcasted from Moscow twice daily. Concerts, lectures on scientific and agricultural subjects, and a children's newspaper are features of the radio programs. A small license fee is required for installing receiving sets. Workers' clubs in the cities and village clubs are usually outfitted with receiving set and loud speaker.

Receiving sets in use:

1924-25 24,945
1925-26 82,872
1926-27 230,000
1928 (May 1) 290,000

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