868.75/10
The Minister in Greece ( Skinner ) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 14.]
Sir: I have the honor to report in confirmation and extension of my telegram today27 on the same subject, that the prospect of securing a concession for Greece in favor of the International Telephone and Telegraph Company28 is favorable at the present time. Following the receipt of the Department’s cabled instruction27 on the subject, I arranged at once that Mr. Gill, the special representative of the Company, should meet Mr. Venizelos,29 and I also informed various authorized persons of the nature and importance of the Company itself. At the time of Mr. Gill’s arrival, the Government was inviting tenders for a poorly conceived system of local telephone exchanges without connection with the outside world, so planned, in fact, that the American concern was not prepared to put in any bid upon the specifications as they then stood. After Mr. Gill had explained to Mr. Venizelos the importance to Greece of securing a comprehensive system which would provide, not only good local service in the various centres of population, but also direct connections with other countries, and furthermore that this could be obtained without cost to the Hellenic Government itself, Mr. Venizelos was greatly impressed and in the end saw to it that the pending invitation to bidders was withdrawn and another substituted.
[Page 110]The various foreign telephone interests now represented in Athens are said to be disheartened by the apparently good position in which the International Telephone and Telegraph Company stands, and will lose no opportunity to recover ground for themselves. For this reason, it is important that Mr. Gill, who left Athens some days ago, return to the city as soon as possible, or if that is out of the question, that another competent technical representative arrive within the next two weeks, as questions are almost certain to arise which can be dealt with satisfactorily only by one entirely familiar with the projects of the Company and with the technical side of modern telephony.
I have [etc.]