Editing Plain old telephone service (section)

==Historical services==
[[File:Manhole Cover - Post Office Copper Telephone Cable Pit.jpg|thumb|In many countries, the post office originally operated telephony systems: hence ubiquitous "PO" markings on historical telephone infrastructure in many countries]]
In countries where telephone systems were originally operated by the postal service administrations, the systems were known as ''post office telephone service'' as early as 1912<ref>{{cite book
|last=Bennett
|first=Edward
|year=1912
|title=The Post Office And Its Story
|url=
|page=194
}}</ref><ref>The British General Post Office (GPO) Guide of 1914 specifically mentions subscribers of the "Post Office Telephone Service"</ref><ref>''Join the Post Office Telephone Service!'' [Advertisement] Te Ao Hou, December 1958, p. 65.</ref> In Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom the telephone system was a government service, under Post Office control, until privatisation in the 1970s and 1980s.