Hawaiian Telephone Company today introduced a new communications service for business firms providing for direct dialing throughout the State.
It is the forerunner of inter-island direct long-distance dialing for all subscribers, said Douglas S. Guild, company president.
The new service will provide station-to-station calls to all telephones within the State for a fixed monthly rate instead of a charge per call.
It is called wide area telephone services (W.A.T.S.).
Guild said this is the first in a series of steps to be undertaken by the company to enable Hawaii’s telephone users to dial any number in the State from their homes and offices.
It will be several years before the service is extended to all subscribers because further expensive switching equipment must be installed on all Islands, he said.
The company’s chief engineer, L.O. Arstad, is going to the Mainland this month to check whether this new service can be brought about sooner for all subscribers.
The W.A.T.S. subscriber automatically gains access to the inter-island radiotelephone system when he lifts his telephone handset.
Upon hearing a dial tone, he dials a single digit to transfer his call to the Island he is calling. A second dial tone indicates that the Island number may then be dialed.
Full-time W.A.T.S. service provides for an unlimited number of calls for a flat monthly rate of $800.
Measured service is sold by the hour with a basic allowance of four hours of use per month at $100. Additional hours are charged at an hourly rate of $20.
To provide the service which went into effect today, the company invested a substantial amount of money in new switching equipment at the Honolulu, Hilo, Wailuku, Lihue, Kaunakakai and Lanai City central offices, Guild said.
Subscribers so far include the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association’s Experiment Station, California Packing Corporation and Airways Travel Service.
Every Sunday, “Back in the Day” looks at an article that ran on this date in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The items are verbatim, so don’t blame us today for yesteryear’s bad grammar.
