Abstract: A telephone switching network for digital speech transmission is characterized in that a dialing information input by an originating subscriber into an originating switching center is employed to complete a virtual connection departing from the originating switching center and proceeding over one or more tandem switching centers, as required, and extending up to a destination switching center to which an appertaining destination subscriber is connected. A speech information to be transmitted is subdivided into speech segments or phrases and a respective phrase, in the form of an information block having a preceding destination identifier sequence which contains data concerning virtual partial connections to be respectively traversed and an end identifier at the end of the phrase and indicating the end of the phrase, is transmitted in proper time between the subscribers via real partial connections respectively built-up for an appertaining, current phrase between two switching centers.