APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200080003-4
tube coaxial cable routes have 960 or 2,700 channels per tube. Minor links use small coaxial cables having 300-channel capacities. More recently, sections of the new 60MHz coaxial cable having 10,400 channels per tube have been installed on some key routes, and the trend is to expand usage of this newest type cable together with duplicate radio-relay systems on all primary routes. Several types of high-capacity radio-relay equipment are used: one operates in the 4-Ghz band and transmits 4 radio frequencies, each frequency providing 960 telephone channels or 1 TV circuit; another type operates in the 6-GHz band and provides 2,700 channels per radio frequency.
The intercity telephone switching system is divided into 20 regions and 231 districts for operational control. Each region has a main switching center, but the most important centers are at Milan and Rome. Direct-dial service has been in effect throughout all of Italy since October 1970, using electronic exchanges to interconnect all the nearly 10.8 million telephone sets. Telephone density is highest in the northern and central cities, and the largest concentrations are in Rome, Milan, Torino, and Genoa. Distribution in most cities in the southern part of the country is closer to the national average of 17.5 sets per 100 population. Telegraph facilities are located in about 175 cities; 23 of these also have facsimile service. Automatic telex exchanges in more than 35 cities have a combined capacity of about 9,500 lines.
The highly complex and automated network of international services has experienced a 40% to 50% increase in telephone and telex traffic in recent years. The principal control centers for international services are in Rome and Milan. Multiconductor and coaxial cables and radio-relay links carry most of the traffic to European countries. Landlines connect with Austria, France, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia; radio-relay facilities or tropospheric-scatter links provide circuits to Austria, France, Greece, Spain, Tunisia, and West Germany (via Austria). All international IIF radiocommunication circuits are operated by ITALCABLE. Telephone, telegraph, telex, and facsimile circuits to over 40 foreign terminals are manipulated from control centers in Rome and two transmitter and two receiver stations located in the Rome area. Coaxial submarine cables, administered by the MPT, provide telephone and telegraph service to Albania, Crete, Egypt, Greece, Libya, Malta, and Tunisia. ITALCABLE shares operation of the 640-channel MAT-1 cable system to Estepona, Spain, where connections are made with several transatlantic cable systems in which additional circuits are leased. A communications satellite ground station is located at Cenea del Fucino, about 80 miles east of Rome. The installation has antennas operating with satellites in both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans; direct circuits are available to 21 countries. The station also serves as a major transit center for international traffic between many African, Asian, and Latin American countries.
Special telecom systems are operated by many government agencies and private organizations. Most of these systems lease circuits from the public network, but some large separate systems have been established. A 20-station coastal radiocommunication network is directed from a central station in Rome, and a combined radio-relay and wire network is used by the Autostrade IRI for highway traffic control and maintenance. The National Electric Power Agency has a special independent countrywide telecom system, which uses power line carrier equipment for remote control of electric power switching and telephone services between power stations. A radio-relay system links the 22 provincial headquarters of the Carbinieri with the Rome GHQ, and communication facilities of the signal battalions of the Italian Army are tied into those of the Carabinieri, the Air Force, and the civil telephone system.
Broadcast services compare favorably with those available in other European countries. The AM programs originate at 4 primary and 14 regional studios and are transmitted by 86 stations. Four different programs are presented. The National and Second Programs are most widely disseminated, and only a few stations broadcast special cultural or regional language programs on the Third and Regional Programs. Stations at Rome and Caltanissetta broadcast the foreign service programs on shortwave. Over 1,700 FM transmitters in operation at some 550 separate stations comprise the most extensive FM network in Europe. Only 35 are primary high-power stations; the remainder are repeaters, most less than 100 watts in power output. Each station broadcasts three separate programs. In mid-1972 an estimated 12.6 million broadcast receiver licenses were in force.
Nationwide TV coverage is achieved through extensive use of the radio-relay system and the careful placement of some 1,150 transmitters in 855 different locations. TV studios in Rome, Milan, Torino, Florence, and Naples provide material for the National Program, which is transmitted on channels of the VHF band, and the Second Program, on channels of the VHF band. Some key transmitters have power outputs of 1,000 kw., but the bulk of the stations have
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200080003-4
