Page:NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SURVEY 18; CZECHOSLOVAKIA; TRANSPORTATION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110013-9.pdf/31

 APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110013-9

is provided by 23 AM and 16 FM stations, and the TV network comprises 10 major regional stations supplemented by 300 low-powered rebroadcast transmitters. Czechoslovakia has the best developed and most extensive TV system in Eastern Europe, offering a national program to more than 90% of the population. At the end of 1972, there were 3.2 million TV receivers and 3.8 million registered radio receivers in the country. TV programs are exchanged with the Intervision and Eurovision networks. A high-powered TV transmitter capable of color transmissions in both the PAL (West German) and SECAM (French) systems has been completed at Krizava Hill, near Prague; transmission commenced on 9 May 1973.

Wired broadcasting is still used extensively, and in recent years the network has developed into a significant countrywide facility. Programs are transmitted to loudspeakers in schools and other public places.

International telecom facilities which include landlines, radio-relay links, and radio communication stations are interconnected with the domestic public intercity networks. These facilities provide telecom circuits to all neighboring countries and to many principal cities of the world. Direct automatic exchange equipment are in use. The army telecom system consists of military-owned wire lines, leased circuits, and radio facilities. The system provides telegraph service between the main telecom center in Prague and other centers at Brno, Ceske Budejovice, Hradec Kralove, Karlovy Vary, Khely, Kosice, Mlada Boleslav, Olomouc, Plzen, Tabor, and Trencin. An extensive radio-relay system operated by the Ministry of Defense provides communications down to the division level for member countries of the Warsaw Pact. More recently the links have been extended to SAM sites and radar stations. The headquarters is located at Petrin Hill, and the control and operations center is at Ruzyne.

The Communist Party has a private telegraph service operating between headquarters in Prague and 10 group centers throughout the country. Circuits are leased from the FVPT, and teleprinters are used throughout the system.

In 1968 the Soviet Forces (Central Group of Forces—CGF) established a permanent telecom link to the Soviet Union and the Group of Soviet Forces Germany (GSFG). Headquarters for the CGF is located in Milovice, Czechoslovakia. A troposcatter station at Jirice maintains a link between the Milovice CGF headquarters, the Northern Group of Forces (NGF), at Legnica, Poland, the GSFG Headquarters at Zossen, East Germany, and the Ministry of Defense, Moscow.

Czechoslovakia ranks among the most important producers of telecom equipment in Eastern Europe. Currently, the industry consists of 11 major equipment producers plus numerous facilities which make components and subassemblies. Types of wire equipment produced include telephone handsets, semiautomatic and manual switchboards, carrier equipment, teleprinters, and cathode-ray picture tubes. Radio and TV receivers, and transmitters including transistorized units, are produced in substantial quantities. Czechoslovakia is largely self-sufficient in meeting its requirements for most telecom equipment; however, special items such as high-speed data transmission systems suitable for use by new agencies, VHF communication equipment, microwave relay equipment, and telecom components including oscilloscopes and certain types of transistors, are imported.

During winter months, high humidity and low temperatures occasionally cause ice accumulation on open-wire lines and antennas, and heavy snows are a problem particularly in the higher elevations. These climate conditions have also hampered the construction of the transmitter network for the second television program and radio-relay communications.

Telecom systems are reasonably secure from disruption by sabotage. The basic intercity cables are buried, and numerous alternate routes are available between important areas. The heaviest concentration of intercity telecom circuits is in the Prague area, where the main terminal and switching centers are located. Destruction of these facilities would disrupt telecom service in most of the western half of the country. Other important junction points where telecom traffic could be disrupted are Bratislava, Brno, Olomouc, Ostrava, Trencin, and Zilina.

A shortage of electronics engineers and technicians exists, but sufficient personnel are available to operate and maintain telecom facilities. Universities in Prague and Bratislava have special schools for electronics training.

The main task of the present Five Year Plan (1971-75) is the elimination of obsolescence of inter-city networks. High priority has been placed on the automation of long-distance telephone service. New coaxial trunk lines will be installed, mainly from

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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110013-9