Page "Telecommunications in Russia" Paragraph 32

One year later Sovnarkom nationalized all telephone systems in the Russian Republic-including all intercity, urban, concessionary and zemstvo exchangesand assigned their administration and operation to the People's Commissariat of Posts and Telegraphs.

Beginning with the nationalization of telephones in 1919, Soviet policy exhibited two mnain characteristics: telephones increasingly became instruments for the bureaucracy and bureaucrats, and telephones in general were accorded a low investment priority.

In March 1920, for instance, government institutions were exempted from the telephone tariff, receiving the right to use the telephone without payment, albeit for sharply restricted periods.