Telco Group, Inc. history

The most celebrated technical advance in telegraphy was achieved by Emile Baudot, whose system of Rapid Telegraphy was patented in 1874.

The French Post Office gradually absorbed the telegraph service, one minister becoming responsible for both early in 1879.

SGT's telephone network was nationalized in September 1889, the state reserving the monopoly of telephonic developments and addressing itself to the problems of technical development with the assistance of scientists Ader and Berthon.

Other of Baudot's telegraphic inventions were contemporaneous with the development of the typewriter and by 1890 telegrams began to be transmitted in page form.

In 1898 Brown hung telephone wire on his electric poles and quickly extended the business to other towns.

In 1911 there were 0.6 telephones per 100 people in France while in the United States there were 8.1, in Canada 3.7, in Denmark 3.5, in Sweden 3.4, and in Germany 1.6.

After R. O. Winter’s death in 1916, the company was sold to the local electric company, owned by Corbett Packaging.

Originally there were many varieties of telephone sets available but a standard model was introduced in 1924.

The fledgling company was incorporated in Delaware on September 25, 1925, as the United Telephone & Electric Company.

Upon Brown's death in 1935, United Telephone & Electric fell into receivership.

Nevertheless, France still had one of the lowest ratios of telephones to people in 1938 with 3.79 percent whereas the United States had 15.27 percent, Sweden 12.47 percent, and the United Kingdom 6.74 percent.

However, the creation of the Centre National d'Etudes des Télécommunications--CNET, now France Télécom's research and development organization--in 1944 was all-important in encouraging further experimentation.

The first coaxial links connected Paris and Toulouse in 1947 and coaxial cable gradually replaced the old paired wire.

By 1953 United was ranked fifth among United States independents.

Henson joined United Utilities in 1959, with a master's degree in electrical engineering, doctoral work in mathematics and physics, and experience as chief engineer for Lincoln Telephone Company.

By 1960 United Utilities was the third-largest telephone holding company in the United States, with 467,000 telephones operating.

Franco-American experiments resulted in the capture and broadcast of the first television signals from the United States in July 1962.

To transmit such calls, AT & T required the use of United's facilities, for which it agreed to pay $1.25 million for the 12-month period ending June 1, 1963.

The 1964 purchase from AT & T of a 45% interest in Inter-Mountain Telephone Company, servicing Virginia and eastern Tennessee, made United a major contender in the telephone industry.

United Transmission Inc. was a new venture developed in 1965 to design and operate community antenna television systems (CATV). Through United subsidiaries, communications systems were beginning to merge.

By far the most forward-looking venture United engaged in at the time was the December 1967 acquisition of Automated Data Services Company, Inc., renamed United Computing Systems, Inc.

By late 1968 North sold three-quarters of its services to the Bell System, other independents, industrial companies, and computer manufacturers.

A significant merger at this time was Carolina Telephone and Telegraph Company, completed in March 1969.

More opportunities for expansion in business telephone equipment manufacturing came early in 1970 when the FCC changed some of its regulations.

In contrast, at the end of 1971 United's basic telephone operations accounted for 90% of company profits.

The unregulated businesses needed more attention, however; United Business Communications was not profitable in its second year, while United Computing barely edged into profitability by 1972.

In 1974 United picked up more independent telephone companies in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Florida.

In a further move to position itself as a major competitor in telecommunications, United sold Central Kansas Power for an undisclosed amount in November 1977.

In November 1979 the company acquired Pittsburgh-based On-Line Systems, a $29.2 million company offering database management for defense, manufacturing, and energy-related applications.

In March 1980 the company launched Uninet Inc., the third-largest packet network to compete with similar services of GT & E's Telenet.

Because of recent acquisitions and increased competition from new players in computer-aided design, including IBM, United Information Systems lost $1.4 million in 1981.

A more notable divestment was United's sale of United Information Services, Inc., in December 1983.

The June 1984 purchase of Dallas-based United States Telephone Communications, Inc., also paved the way for United Telecom to offer broad-based service to business customers as well as long distance services.

By March 1987 US Sprint's losses forced GTE into a corner; Canada's Belzberg family bought much of GTE Sprint stock, hoping to make GTE sell its shares.

By June 1988 United Telecom calculated it had spent $1.5 billion on US Sprint.

To initiate possible entrance into the trans-Pacific market, the company followed up the purchase with a Hawaii-based firm, Long Distance/USA, in October 1989.

The French legal act passed on July 2, 1990, on the organization of public posts and telecommunications services, transformed France Télécom (formerly Direction Générale des Télécommunications) into a public service carrier with corporate legal status.

In 1991 France Télécom was the fifth largest shareholder in Inmarsat, the international maritime satellite, which is the culmination of over 60 years of development in intercontinental radio-electronic telephone traffic.

Telco's primary sales vehicle is direct mail, and Telco, founded in 1993 and based in Chantilly, Va., does not ask prospective customers to switch primary long-distance providers.

In May 1996, France Telecom finally introduced its own Internet provider service, dubbed Wanadoo.

But several months later, the French government passed a new law transforming the company into a société anonyme--an event that took place on January 1, 1997--creating a public company in name if not yet in fact.

Placed on hold, France Telecom's public offering (which would result in the French government's stake being reduced to some 55 percent) nevertheless seemed an inevitability--and likely to occur before the European Union's January 1, 1998 deadline.