henry@garp.mit.edu (Henry Mensch) (04/12/90)
[Picked up from the [New York Times]: Albania, whose hard-line Communist government is known for jealously preserving the country's isolation, will soon allow citizens to accept telephone calls from the United States. American Telephone & Telegraph Co. said Wednesday it will begin offering operator-assisted calls to Albania next month. Richard A. Wallerstein, spokesman for AT&T, said that on March 24 Albania began without explanation to allow its citizens to dial direct to more than 50 countries. The government agreed soon afterward to allow incoming calls from the United States, he said. Only three other countries still do not accept calls placed from the United States: North Korea, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is unclear how many Americans want to call Albanians or whether they will be able to reach them. Calls handled by AT&T will travel through a cable from Italy that carries just 80 telephone lines. Even AT&T has no idea how many telephones there are in Albania, a country where the private ownership of automobiles is forbidden and most people travel on foot or by oxcart. # Henry Mensch / <henry@garp.mit.edu> / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA # <hmensch@uk.ac.nsfnet-relay> / <henry@tts.lth.se> / <mensch@munnari.oz.au>
goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) (04/13/90)
In article <6292@accuvax.nwu.edu>, henry@garp.mit.edu (Henry Mensch) writes: > [Picked up from the [New York Times]: > Even AT&T has no idea how many telephones there are in Albania, a > country where the private ownership of automobiles is forbidden and > most people travel on foot or by oxcart. According to a recent chart in the _Economist_, Albania's telephone to population ratio is approximately 1%. With a population of a bit over a million and a half, this works out to about 15,000 telephones in the entire nation. Five-digit national phone numbers, anyone? Bob Goudreau +1 919 248 6231 Data General Corporation 62 Alexander Drive goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 ...!mcnc!rti!xyzzy!goudreau USA