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 APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200090023-1

J. Telecommunications (C)

The telecommunication (telecom) systems in Sweden are modern and among the mostly highly developed in the world. Domestic and international telephone, telegraph, telex, facsimile, data transmission, and radio and television (TV) broadcast services meet all of the public, government, industrial, and military requirements. Facilities are available throughout Sweden, but the networks are denser in the more populous southern half of the country. Key telecom centers are in Stockholm, Goteborg, Malmo, Karlstad, and Sundsvall. Sweden ranks second to the United States in number of telephones and TV receiver sets per capita and leads all European countries in the number of radiobroadcast receivers.

Most telecom facilities are government owned and operated. The Swedish Telecommunication Administration (Televerket — STA), a government-owned commercial enterprise under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Communications, is responsible for telecom operations. The Swedish parliament legislates on policies regarding the services to be provided, but the STA controls and operates most of the facilities in the public telecom system and performs administration and planning functions. The most significant commercial telecom enterprise is the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation (Sveriges Radio AB — SBC), operating under government concession. The SBC operates radio and TV studios and prepares most radio and TV programs, but several other commercial firms also operate TV studios and prepare programs for the SBC. Public utilities, private railroads, taxicab companies, and manufacturers are among the commercial organizations that operate private telecom facilities.

Domestic systems include open-wire lines, coaxial and multiconductor cables, and radio-relay links. The main long-distance network is comprised of coaxial and multiconductor cables for telephone, telegraph, telex, and data transmission. The major cable lines extend from Malmo, in the south, to Kiruna, in the north, and from Stockholm, in the east, to Goteborg, in the west. The cable routes are commonly paralleled by radio-relay links used primarily for radiobroadcast and TV programs, but telephone channels also are available on the main routes. Traffic-handling capacity of the entire system is greatly increased by the use of carrier and automatic switching equipment; computer-controlled exchanges are in use in the national long-distance network. Sweden has about 58 telephones per 100 population; all of the 4,636,000 telephones are connected to automatic exchanges. Conventional telegraph traffic includes about 9,300 teleprinters of which 8,000 are of the dial type connected to the automatic teletypewriter exchange service, and 1,300 are full-time fixed connections outside the automatic telex network.

International telecom facilities consist of telephone, telegraph, telex, facsimile, data transmission, radiobroadcast, and TV services. Circuits are provided by radiocommunication stations, radio-relay links, landlines, submarine cables, and a satellite ground station. Radiocommunication facilities, controlled from Stockholm, provide direct high-frequency (HF) circuits between Sweden and all major world centers. Radio-relay links provide circuits to Denmark, Finland, and Norway. International landlines, a continuation of domestic networks, link Sweden with Norway and Finland. Ten submarine cables providing domestic channels for telephone, telegraph, and telex circuits, as well as radio and TV broadcast programs, extend to Denmark, West Germany, East Germany, Finland, and the United Kingdom. As a member of the Scandinavian Telecommunication Satellite Council (Teleintelsuraden). Sweden operates jointly with

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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200090023-1