The Development of Telecoms - Cardiff
Stretching from the estuary of the River Severn to the Brecon Beacons, the Cardiff area covers approximately 1,600 square miles.
It includes the sea ports of Barry, Cardiff and Newport. Although steel and coal were the basic industries of this part of South Wales, trading estates consisting of factories in light industry have been established in several parts of the area. In contrast, there are very large expanses of rich farming country in Monmouth, Breconshire and the Vale of Glamorgan.
There are 51 automatic and 78 manual exchanges with 40,206 exchange lines and 70,989 stations, 296,300 miles of underground and 49,150 miles of overhead wire. The total staff, excluding exchange operating staff is 1,103 and the main preoccupation of engineering and traffic staff now is the conversion of Cardiff exchange to automatic working towards the end of 1951.
