Telephone companies send monthly service bills to government agencies just like they do to your home. I don't think there will be any major discrepancies, but if we solve the little problems, we'll save a lot of money. Other areas are equally ripe for saving money. You'd be amazed at the number of people in a command who have a dial up modem on their desks that requires a dedicated telephone line, and they never or very infrequently use it. Those lines are expensive.
Personnel is another potential area for savings.
Currently, the average site probably has four or five people taking care of the switch, moving and installing telephones and designing telephone installation for new construction. Some of the larger bases might have twice as many people to maintain a switch. It's a possibility that site support could be cut significantly by doing most of the work from a central location. Although the potential for savings in personnel exists, Howell feels, 'We'll always have people located in close proximity to a switch to talk to the customer up close and personal. Whiting Field is around forty miles from Pensacola.