OCR Text |
Show f f I pm Ill WIIMII1UIUIMIIIIMIIIL-Ilimill ' .! , ' "-it f mm .... ww wmm o ' o V-6 TTTTT tT it CT Q" Ijjjj Q Q n u cd o Id Ho Id I "v Vtf a Mountain Bell reached a milestone when it installed its one-millionth telephone on Tuesday, April 29. This contemporary con-temporary Horizon model pictured is quite different from the original telephone installed in homes and businesses. Bell installs Millionth Phone It took Mountain Bell 57 years to reach the half-million half-million mark. In less than 12 years, another 500,000 telephones have been added, which is a vivid indication of just how fast Utah is growing. Mountain Bell installed its one-millionth telephone Tuesday, April 29. Recipient of this milestone event was Eagar & Company, a property and real estate firm. The installation of the "Horizon" communications system at Eagar & Company is also the first system of its kind to be installed in a Utah real estate firm. "Mountain Bell tailored this system to my business. Each phone can be programmed to meet the needs of my agents," said owner Todd Eagar. The "Horizon" system is designed to serve customers with .. up to 79 phones. It is a microprocessor-controlled system utilizing stored program control. The multibutton electronic telephone set provides customers with a number of special features including hold, transfer, three-way conferencing, call waiting and automatic intercom, among others, according to Mountain Bell's Vice President & Utah General Manager, Tom Lindblom. "The 'Horizon' customer access unit enables the customer to add, change rearrange or delete features on a telephone by simply tapping a few codes into the unit's entry pad. Existing phones can thus be reassigned features without wiring changes," Lindblom explained. Utah, one of the fastest-growing fastest-growing states in the nation, is entering into one of its greatest growth periods. A comparison of the number of long distance calls placed during an average business day now over the number at the end of 1968 reflects this rapid growth. Utah residents are relying on their telephones more and more, expecially since transportation costs haveescalated so dramatically. The number of long distance calls placed on an average business day in 1968 was 275,000. Today the average is 930,000, according to Lindblom. ' He said several proposed government and industrial projects, such as the In-termountain In-termountain Power Project, the MX Missile Site, and the Central Utah Water Project, will have a tremendous impace on demand for more and improved telephone service. "Despite skyrocketing inflation and demand, basic telephone rates have remained lower than for other commodities. From 1969 to 1979, local residential phone rates in Salt Lake City rose only 31.8 per cent, compared with a 70 to 300 per cent cost rise for such things as homes, cars, food, i education, clothes .. and medical services," Lindblom Lind-blom commented. "We've come a long way since the days of the old crank phone, which was later replaced by the 'modern' black desk set. It's exciting for us to be installing in-stalling the most modern of systems-the 'Horizon' - as our millionth telephone. "We are proud of the fact that technology in the communications industry has made it possible for us to offer our customers a system that is customized according to each individual need," Lindblom concluded. |