Via Telecom history

Telecommunications began with the successful innovation of Samuel Morse's telegraph system in 1844.

The first subsea telegraph line opens between England and France (1850)

State monopoly of telegraphic services, for military and political reasons, was finally established in 1851.

Western Union, the first telecommunications monopoly, was formed as a regional alliance of several smaller firms in 1856 and rapidly expanded, often following railway lines.

Telegraph cables had spanned the ocean, with varying levels of success, since 1858, but reception was so poor that it could take two minutes to transmit a single Morse character.

The first coast-to-coast telegraph line was opened in 1862 (seven years before rail links extended that far) and immediately made money, demonstrating the value of telecommunications over great distances.

Edison creates the Quadruplex telegraph, capable of sending two signals in each direction at once (1874)

Perhaps most importantly, Bell was first to the patent office on March 7 1876.

Then in 1878, the Bell affiliate in New Haven, Connecticut, opened the first commercial telephone exchange in the United States.

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

However, semaphore as a communication system suffered from the need for skilled operators and expensive towers often at intervals of only ten to thirty kilometers (six to nineteen miles). As a result, the last commercial line was abandoned in 1880.

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.

A Kansas City undertaker, concerned that telephone operators were sending business to his competitors, developed the first mechanically automated telephone switch in 1891.

In the United States, work began on AT&T’s “long lines” network, reaching Chicago by 1892.

Restricted by crude technology to providing local service (initial iron wires rarely extended 100 miles), telephone service developed slowly before the Bell patents expired in 1893.

However, it wasn’t until the invention of the induction coil in 1899—a device that prevents signal distortion on longer lines – that the network was technically capable of spanning the entire continental United States.

By 1904 there were over three million phones in the US, still connected by manual switchboard exchanges.

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.

By 1914, the United States was the world leader in teledensity and had more than twice the teledensity of Sweden, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Norway.

Transcontinental telephone service became possible only around 1915 by the use of amplifiers based on Lee De Forest's "Audion" vacuum tube.

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

Despite all these developments, transatlantic voice communication remained impossible for customers until January 7, 1927, when a connection was established using radio.

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.

First binary digital computer (1939)

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.

Development of satellite communication was first hinted at in a 1945 article by Arthur C. Clarke in which he postulated a geostationary orbit 22,300 miles high that would keep a satellite above the same part of Earth.

Until this time, the president talked on a phone from a booth outside his executive office 1946: 250,000 women employed as switchboard operators for public service and businesses

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

First practical photovoltaic cell (1954)

In 1956, the first transatlantic cable—TAT1—connected Scotland to Newfoundland, allowing for 35 simultaneous telephone calls and 22 simultaneous telegraph transmissions.

Pushed by the cold war missile race, the world's first artificial satellite came just 12 years later as the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into a low Earth orbit in October 1957.

The old rotary switching system was replaced by the crossbar system around 1960, the new equipment being sufficiently versatile to meet the needs of all types of telecommunication, from urban to international.

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

"Les télécommunications" (Français)Television report about Telecom 1971(source: Institut national de l'audiovisuel)

In June 1973, the first non-US node was added to the network belonging to Norway's NORSAR project.

"High Tech 1975" (Français)Television report about Telecom 1975(source: Les archives de la Radio Télévision Suisse)

In 1977 Eutelsat, the European satellite organization, worked to achieve the ECS (European Communications Satellite) system.

Then, in 1982, the Plenipotentiary Conference in Nairobi added a new dimension by deciding that specialized TELECOM exhibitions should be held in different countries with a focus on the telecommunication infrastructure needs of each region.

From 1983 Teletel began to replace paper telephone directories and its Minitel terminals were purchased by the DGT in substantial quantities to create a largely captive market.

SBC, one of the regional providers it was forced to spin-out in 1984, purchased AT&T Corporation and adopted its name.

The first regional TELECOM was subsequently organized in Singapore in 1985, and six more events were held in Asia at four-year intervals.

By 1986 France Télécom had 25 million main lines which supported the connection of 96 percent of French homes, as well as the development of many innovative products and services, such as the Teletel videotex system.

Demands for full deregulation of the European telecommunications industry resulted from the Commission of the European Communities (CEC) Green Paper in 1987.

In 1989 the Teletel system boasted a total of 85 million connection hours through 5 million terminals.

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.

In recognition of its own growing international nature, the company removed the accents from the spelling of its name, becoming France Telecom in 1993.

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.

Faced with the January 1, 1998 elimination of telecommunications monopolies foreseen by the European Union, France Telecom has been preparing its privatization, if only to remain competitive with the coming open season on this last bastion of Europe's telecommunications market.

In Japan and South Korea, up to 10% of subscribers switched to this type of telephone service as of January 2005.

In 2010, recognizing the growing importance of globalized markets and services, the Plenipotentiary Conference in Guadalajara made another important change.

In 2015, TELECOM World in Budapest saw the inauguration of another new way to show appreciation of the best in information and communication technologies.