CHAPTER XI. TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH DIVISION. During the past fiscal year, the telephone and telegraph division, in addition to being engaged in formal proceedings, has had before it an exceeding large amount of informal work. The critical situation faced by the telephone utilities, particularly in the southern part of the state, brought about by the great influx of population together with the difficulty of securing the necessary materials and supplies for construction work, has resulted in a huge task of supplying the demand for telephone service. This condition has been reflected in the large number of informal complaints to the Railroad Commission, particularly, in connection with delayed installations and service. USE OF THE TELEPHONE. It is interesting to note the rate of increase in the number of telephones within the State of California during the last few years. The following table will show this growth for the past five years for the cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and for the entire state. The use made of the telephone is also of interest. Nowhere in the United States, not even in New York or Chicago, is the telephone used to the extent it is in California and particularly in Los Angeles. The following table shows in addition to the number of telephones, the average number of calls per telephone per day and the average number of telephones per every 100 population: The above information shows that approximately 840,000 calls are made every day in San Francisco, 1,500,000 in Los Angeles, 3,700,000 in the State of California and 58,000,000 calls in the United States. These FORMAL PROCEEDINGS. During the past year the Commission has rendered forty-nine decisions in relation to telephone and telegraph proceedings exclusive of stock and bond proceedings affecting these utilities. There were at the close of the year fifteen proceedings pending awaiting the decision of this Commission. Table No. 3 following shows a segregation of these decisions rendered during the year and proceedings pending at the close of the year. Table No. 5 following contains a complete detail list of the decisions rendered. TABLE NO. 3. Number of Decisions Rendered during the Year ending June 30, 1923, and Proceedings Pending Nature of proceeding (1) Applications Valuations of seven telephone and telegraph utilities properties have been made during the past year. The list of the utilities whose properties were valued together with the valuation found by the Commission are set forth in the table following: TABLE NO. 4. Valuation of Telephone and Telegraph Properties. April 1, 1922-Suisun and Green Valley Telephone Company. January 1, 1923-T. H. Dassel (Morgan Hill Telephone Company). THE LOS ANGELES SITUATION. $19,436 00 4,480 OG 10,890 00 4,863 00 515.00 685 00 5,248 00 The situation is Los Angeles has been the most perplexing and is, at the present time, the center of our activities. The Southern California Telephone Company, which serves the city of Los Angeles and immediate vicinity, has connected during the past year 58,200 telephones and disconnected 29,900 telephones, resulting in a net gain of 28,300 stations. These figures show that in order to make a net gain of one telephone, three installations are involved; or in other words, for every new subscriber one old subscriber moves from one location to another, requiring, in addition to his own installation, the installation. and disconnection of a telephone. The growth of the City of Los Angeles, as compared with other cities, has been tremendous, particularly, during the last two years. The tele-. phone company has not only had this growth to contend with, but also, it has been necessary to reengineer or remodel a very large portion of its present distribution system. The Southern California Telephone Company has, in the city of Los Angeles, actually three different telephone systems, the manual system, the old three-wire automatic system and the new two-wire automatic system. The old three-wire automatic equipment is that of the former Home Telephone Company, and due to its age and operation, is being retired and replaced by the more modern and efficient two-wire equipment. Having three systems in operation at the same time has made it necessary to install special equipment in order that conversations might be carried on between any two subscribers of any two of the different systems. The consolidation of the two former companies gave to the Southern California Telephone Company, to a large extent, a duplication of central offices, particularly in the downtown district, systems duplicating underground ducts, cables, lines and other equipment, and also, subscribers' switchboards and instruments. Eliminating these duplications and rearranging central office territories has been an exceedingly difficult task and is, at the present, not entirely completed. Numerous exchange offices together with respective distribution systems supplying the residential sections adjoining the down town area have had to be remodeled due to the rapid change to business and apartment sections. These rearrangements and the new construction work have had to be made to the existing plant while in service, which means that before any old equipment could be taken out or replaced the new equipment had to be first installed and operating, which meant a further doubling up during the process of change. This constant reconstruction work, together with the tremendous growth and change in the city of Los Angeles and the demand for an increased number of telephones has all been reflected in a poorer class of telephone service than otherwise would occur. This Commission is constantly in touch with the conditions in Los Angeles and elsewhere throughout the state and is not only carrying on investigations and studies with a view that the utilities shall render the best service possible, but also, to estimate the future in order that the telephone utilities will make proper preparations now for the demand and service of the coming year. INDUCTIVE INTERFERENCE. In 1918, this Commission issued a General Order No. 52, which sets forth rules and regulations governing the construction and operation of power and communication lines for the prevention or mitigation of inductive interference. Work in connection with this order is largely informal in nature and requires that power and communication utilities file with this Commission reports regarding proposed construction of lines which are in any way involved in a parallel, or will result in the creation of inductive interference. The total number of reports received to date, since the issuance of this order, is 394. Of these, 79 have been The Commission has had before it one formal case, Postal Telegraph. Cable Company vs. Pacific Gas and Electric Company. In this proceeding, the Postal Company asks that steps be taken which will result in the mitigation of interference which they now experience in their circuits due to the proximity of certain transmission lines of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company located between the cities of Suisun and Sacramento. A decision in this proceeding has been rendered requiring that a further hearing be held in order that the Western Union Company, Southern Pacific Company and The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company might appear as their circuits are also involved in this particular parallel. The proceeding also ordered that a joint conference of all utilities operating either power or communication circuits within. this parallel be called by the Commission's engineering department for the purpose of promulgating plans for the relocating of the circuits within the parallel. The proceeding will be reopened after certain tests have been made to determine the reduction in induction which may be obtained by making certain changes in the power system and after certain cost figures have been submitted by the different utilities operating lines which are involved in the relocation of the Postal Company's circuits within certain portions of the parallel where the horizontal separation is small. The Commission's engineering department is preparing to hold a series of informal conferences of all the power communication utilities operating within the state for the purpose of reviewing the progress which has been made by the application of General Order No. 52, considering the advisability of making revisions in this order, and also to consider the question of formulating rules and regulations to govern the location of power and communication circuits along public roads. A number of instances have come to the attention of this Commission where both sides of a public road have been occupied by power or communication circuits. This condition has made it very difficult to extend the lines of the other utilities and it appears possible that some general practice might be standardized by the utilities in which one side of the road will be left for power circuits and the other for communication lines. FILING OF RATE SCHEDULES. The Commission has issued a General Order No. 68 governing the filing of rate schedules, rules and regulations of telephone and telegraph utilities. The issuance of this order requires each telephone and telegraph company to file a complete schedule, consisting of rate schedules and rules and regulations governing service, in a uniform and standard The order also provides that the utilities include in their schedules, maps showing the boundaries of primary rate areas and exchange areas. This will involve considerable work but will eliminate a great amount of difficulty both now and in the future regarding the definite location of dividing lines between adjoining exchange areas. It is interesting to note that the schedule of The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company consists of 25 volumes containing over 5000 pages. PROCEEDINGS PENDING. The more important proceedings pending at the close of this fiscal year are: (1) Case 1354-California Railroad Commission vs. Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company. (2) Case 1362-Postal Telegraph-Cable Company vs. Pacific Gas and Electric Company. (3) Application 8145-City of Los Angeles for investigation of service conditions. Case 1354 is a proceeding instituted by this Commission on August 1, 1919, in which it ordered that investigation be made to determine the reasonableness of all rates and charges and rules and regulations of The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company for long distance, toll and telegraph service and exchange telephone service rendered within the State of California. A preliminary hearing was held in this proceeding on September 15, 1919. However, to carry on this investigation will mean the valuation of the entire properties of The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company within the State of California, and also, extensive investigations and studies of the operating revenues and expenses of that company. work has been held in abeyance, primarily, on account of the lack of the necessary men. This Application 8145 is a request made by the city of Los Angeles asking that the Commission make a survey and investigation of the service conditions now existing in the city of Los Angeles. This application, together with Case 1796, H. G. Brainerd et al. vs. Southern California Telephone Company, has been heard and submitted and is now awaiting decision. Case 1362, a complaint made by Postal Telegraph-Cable Company against Pacific Gas and Electric Company, has been decided and reopened to allow the Western Union Company, the Southern Pacific Company and The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company to appear and be heard relative to certain proposed circuit relocations. This proceeding has |