308 Telephone Systems of the Continent of Europe 



XVIII. PORTUGAL 



HISTORY AND PRESENT POSITION 



THAN Portugal few European countries possess shorter or 

 more uneventful telephonic histories. In 1882 a concession 

 was granted by the Government to the Edison-Gower-Bell 

 Telephone Company of Europe, in virtue of which exchanges 

 were soon established in Lisbon and Oporto. In 1887 the busi- 

 ness was taken over by an English company formed for the 

 purpose, the Anglo-Portuguese Telephone Company, Limited, of 

 53 New Broad Street, London, E.G. On this occasion the con- 

 cession was renewed to the new company for a period of thirty 

 years. The two exchanges have thrown out branches to the 

 suburban towns in their immediate neighbourhood, but are not 

 yet themselves in connection ; while the remainder of Portugal 

 remains, so far, an unexplored territory. Rumours have been 

 heard of an international trunk line to Madrid, but the scheme 

 has not yet assumed any solidity. All lines in Portugal are still 

 single. Practically the only service rendered to the public is the 

 local exchange connection, since there is no telephoning of tele- 

 grams, no telephonograms, no trunk lines, and no public tele- 

 phone stations. There are call offices for the use of subscribers 

 only on the production of a ticket of identity, but this can 

 scarcely be considered a public convenience. In January 1895 

 the number of subscribers was returned at 763 for Lisbon and 

 720 for Oporto, including the suburban exchanges in each case. 

 Lisbon has three, and Oporto five suburban switch-rooms. 



