[VoIP] Hello from Slovenia!

[Ian Jolly]

Many thanks for the information,  Blaz - both on and off the list.

It certainly adds to our knowledge.

I've set up the codes for Blaz - so hopefully we will be able to call him 
and his CLID will come up correctly ;-))

Numbers will nbe added to the Directory pages - Do we have a page for 
Solvenia - Greg  :-)

Ian Jolly


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Blaz Zupan" <blaz at inlimbo.org>
To: <voip at ckts.info>
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2007 10:13 PM
Subject: Re: [VoIP] Hello from Slovenia!


> Very unfortunatelly I don't have a heritage switch to connect to CNET,
> but at least I can offer some info on the past (and present) of the
> telephony network in this part of the world.
>
> When my employer moved into new premises in 2001, there was an old
> 1970's Iskratel SI2000 switch still located there, unfortunately it was
> scrapped and nothing remains of it. Amusingly enough, a couple years
> later we bought a new SI2000 switch, but only the name was the same, as
> this was a completely digital switch with ISDN and SS7 capabilities.
> Amazing enough, a year later that switch was also decomissioned and
> replaced with a Thomson softswitch, which now drives our voice network.
> The newer SI2000 switch is still in our warehouse, but I still ask
> myself why I didn't rescue the old SI2000... For more info on the SI2000
> system, visit the following page:
>
> http://www.iskratel.si/internet/ProductsSolutions/SI2000/
>
> Obviously the info on that page is for the latest generation switch and
> accessories, I have no idea about the specs for the original 1970's-era
> SI2000, but I'll try to dig up some info. Those switches are probably
> very rare outside this area, they were mostly sold in the
> then-Yugoslavia and then-Soviet Union - and they still are.
>
> Following is some info on the history of telephony in Slovenia, that I
> was able to collect from Slovenian web pages.
>
> The telephone was introduced in Slovenia in 1897, 21 years after Bell
> invented the phone. In 1927 the first automatic telephone exchange in
> Yugoslavia was built at the Ljubljana Post Office, it had 1000
> subscriber ports and was produced by Siemens & Halske AG. In 1947 the
> company Iskra was founded, they produced their first step-by-step
> exchange in 1951. Their first crossbar system was the Iskra 58 and it
> was still being marketed in the mid-80s. In 1970 Iskra licensed the
> Metaconta 10C system from ITT and Bell in Belgium. They had the right to
> develop their own software for the system and at its peak there were
> more than 40 Metacontas in service in Yugoslavia. They were also quite
> successful in selling those exchanges to the Soviet Union, in 1977 they
> got the contract to build the international phone exchange in Moscow,
> just in time for the 1980 Olympic Games. In 1979 they introduced their
> own digital switching system SI2000. In 1989 Iskra created a joint
> venture with Siemens called Iskratel and they started selling the EWSD
> switches, along their inhouse developed SI2000. That's what still drives
> the Telekom Slovenia public network today.
>
> I also have some info on the numbering plan in Yugoslavia and later
> Slovenia. The original (pre-1991) numbering plan was like this:
>
> 1. Country code was 38
> 2. Most area codes were two digits (excluding the "0" trunk access code)
> with some exceptions - for example the early analog mobile phone network
> in Slovenia had a three digit area code
> 3. The first digit of the area code was allocated according to the
> republic of Yugoslavia to which it belonged: 01, 02 and 03 was Serbia
> (plus Kosovo and Vojvodina), 04 and 05 was Croatia, 06 was Slovenia, 07
> was Bosnia, 08 was Montenegro and 09 was Macedonia.
> 4. The office codes were originally either two or three digits, but
> after the modernisation of the network were expanded to three digits.
>
> One interesting fact was the way the renumbering has happened. Notice
> that originally all Slovenia area codes were 06, so you would
> internationaly dial a number in Slovenia as + 38 6. When Yugoslavia was
> split up, the new countries received a new country code each, based on
> the original 38 code. Slovenia received 386. So we went from +38 6 to
> +386 6. Then with the renumbering of 2000, the initial 6 was removed, so
> we went from +386 6 back to +386.
>
> A big numbering plan reorganization happened in 2000 to prepare the
> network for deregulation and make it compatible with EU standards. For
> example "00" replaced "99" as the international access code and the old
> emergency numbers were replaced with the common European 112. Before
> March 2000, the numbering plan was basically the old numbering plan from
> Yugoslavia, with only the country code changed from 38 to 386.
>
> It is amazing that in Serbia (another ex-Yugoslavia republic) actually
> still has a numbering plan that mostly resembles the old Yugoslav
> numbering plan, with only the country code changed from 38 to 381. 02
> and 03 are still Kosovo and Vojvodina, the international access code is
> still 99, the short codes (emergency, speaking clock, weather
> announcement, etc.) are stil on 9X numbers, etc. All the other
> ex-Yugoslav republics have completely changed their numbering plans to
> be compatible with EU standards.
>
> My first phone number at around 1979 was +38 62 38 228 where "38" was
> country code for Yugoslavia, "62" was area code for Maribor, "38" was
> the office code for the Tabor crossbar. This means that locally you
> would only need to dial 5 digits. Local calls (inside the same switch)
> were originally free, but this was later scrapped. Nowadays there are no
> long distance calls, you can call from any area code to any area code
> for the same price, the only exception being mobile numbers.
>
> Enough for now, I'll try to dig up some more info that I could share
> with you in the future.
>
> Kind regards,
> Blaz
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