IN 1900, Glasgow Corporation was granted a licence to run a telephone service in the city and adjoining areas. At the time, the local authority was nationally and internationally recognised for its successful ‘municipalisation’ of many of its services.
The Town Council had begun the provision of utilities in 1855 when it municipalised water and constructed the Loch Katrine reservoir. Attempts by private enterprise to deliver these services had been ineffectual. From the 1870s Glasgow extended its control and regulation to include utilities such as gas, electricity and telephones, and a wide range of services, including trams, abattoirs, dairies, markets and even ice-cream parlours
Glasgow’s first telephone exchange was established in 1879 by David Graham in Douglas Street.
It catered for members of the medical profession but was so successful that Graham set up further exchanges to meet the needs of those working in law, stockbroking, and commerce. In 1881 the Bell Telephone Co and the Edison Telephone Co introduced telephone services in the city, but all three businesses were soon swallowed up by the National Telephone Co.
By the 1890s, the inefficiencies and excessive costs of the service (particularly for businesses} led the Corporation to apply to the Post Office for a licence to run a municipal system. After some delay a licence was granted on 1 March 1900 to serve the city and the surrounding area. It covered an area of 140 square miles including Clydebank, Govan, Partick, Kirkintilloch, and Kilsyth.
The service officially began in 1901 with the newly formed Glasgow Corporation Telephone Department managing it. Delivery of the service started in March 1901. The Central Exchange and offices were based in Renfield St with a network of sub-exchanges and switch-rooms spread across the city. By August three other exchanges had opened with a total of 1450 subscribers.
However, the city’s municipal telephone service only lasted until 1906/7. A report in 1905 stated that negotiations had begun with the National Telephone Company (NTC) and the Postmaster General, creating doubt as to the future of municipal telephony. An agreement in September 1906 saw the undertaking transferred to the Postmaster General for £305,000 despite previously rejecting a higher offer from the NTC.
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This unusual failure by Glasgow Corporation is attributed to a modest estimate of £19 per working subscriber’s line, inadequacy of flat rate charge, obsolete systems and a cheap form of switching plant adopted. When it was sold to the Post Office in 1910 the National Telephone Company’s license expired, and the two services were amalgamated.
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