History of the Omsk telephone network (1904-1919)

The aim of this article is to describe the history of the creation and development of the Omsk telephone network at the beginning of the 20th century up to its nationalization by the Bolsheviks in 1919. The development of the telephone communication system is one of the poorly studied topics in the history of Siberia's economy. The history of the Omsk telephone network is not an exception. At the turn of the 20th century Omsk was a large commercial and industrial center of Western Siberia. It became one of the key stations of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. In this connection Omsk was one of the cities which needed fast communication. The basic sources of the research are documents from the Historical Archive of Omsk Oblast. In addition, the author used the materials of the State Archive of Novosibirsk Oblast, the Report on the Operation of Government Railways for 1902 and the List of Subscribers of the Omsk Telephone Network for 1915. Small telephone networks for administrative needs already acted before the opening of the public telephone network in Omsk (from 1884). Mining engineer I.P. Kravtsev designed the Omsk public telephone network. In March 1904, the Omsk public telephone network was put into operation. The author found that for most subscribers the annual subscriber's rental was 75 rubles. Among free subscribers were I.P. Kravtsev, the Omsk postal and telegraph district administration, the district chief, his assistant, the district mechanic, the head of the postal and telegraph office, the head of the telephone network and the telephone network inspector. The author comes to a conclusion that, despite the high subscriber's rental and interruptions in work, the telephone in Omsk was in great demand. So, in March 1904, the Omsk telephone network had only 50 subscribers, and by 1 January 1919 already 1,376. The years of the Civil War were a difficult period for the Omsk telephone network. In 1918 the payment for the telephone service in Omsk was 252 rubles in the first half of the year and already 432 rubles in the second half. While the seat of the government of the Supreme ruler A.V. Kolchak was in Omsk, the city was crowded with military institutions. However, neither the station devices nor the staff of the Omsk network could bear the increased load on the telephone network. There were not enough personnel for qualitative service of telephone subscribers. By the beginning of the autumn of 1919, phones broke during the emergency evacuation of large numbers of the sick and the wounded. In November 1919, after the retreat of Kolchak's forces from Omsk and the final approval of the Soviet government the telephone network became public property. The author believes that the nationalization of the telephone, which the Bolsheviks held in the conditions of economic disruption and military actions lasting in some regions of the country, was a way out of the difficult situation in some degree. The Omsk telephone network had to be upgraded. State regulation of its work was to contribute to the gradual solution of this problem.

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