TELEPHONE INSTRUMENTS, PAYPHONES AND PRIVATE BRANCH EXCHANGES.

The major changes and additions which have occurred in customer apparatus and equipment in the UK over the 25-year period 1956-1981 are reviewed. The scene is one of steady evolution, mainly spurred by advances in semiconductor technology. The most significant changes have been in the introduction of electronic PABXs, but towards the end of the period microelectronics were beginning to have an impact on the design of telephone instruments and payphones. Now, in 1981, market and technology forces are primed for the introduction of change across the whole field of customer apparatus.