The facsimile machine is sounding the death knell for the telex machine and the Swiss PTT reports that while the number of fax machines in Switzerland doubled to 40,000 last year and is expected to reach 100,000 by the end of this year, the number of telex machines stood at 32,723 in April, down from 43,265 in 1986: accordingly, it has cancelled an order for 3,500 telex machines from Ascom-Hasler AG, which in turn says that unless there is a sharp rise in demand in August, it will reduce its telex unit to a maintenance operation.
