What Is Telecommunications?

Date First Published: 9th June 2022

Topic: Computer Networking

Subtopic: Network Services

Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 3/10

Learn more about what telecommunications is in this article.

Telecommunications, also known as telecom, is a wide term used to describe the electronic transmission of signals over long distances through a wide variety of technologies, such as radio and television broadcast, satellites, cellular, fibre optics, telegraphs, and the internet. The internet is an example of the largest telecommunications network. In fact, telecommunications are used all the time. Every time a phone call is made or an email is sent, telecommunications is used.

Note:

Media gateways are translation devices that are used to convert different types of digital media protocols for the purposes of effective multimedia communication.

Telecommunications Circuits

In order for a telecommunications circuit to work, at least two stations must be present with a transmitter and a receiver, which can be combined into a single device called a transceiver and there must be a transmission medium, which may be wireless or wired. Examples of wired transmission mediums include fibre optic or copper and examples of wireless transmission mediums include Wi-Fi and satellite. It is much more common for more than two stations to be present in a telecommunications circuit so that multiple stations can exchange data.

Analogue and Digital Communications

On electronic signals, data can be transmitted in both analogue and digital. Analogue signals were used in early communications, which were transmitted over copper wires. Information was translated into electrical pulses of varying amplitude and used a continuous range of values.

As of now, most communications are digital, where information is translated into binary format (0s and 1s) and the signals are discrete. Each bit represents two different amplitudes. Most telecommunication wiring uses cables that are optimised for digital communication, such as fibre-optic cables. Both digital and analogue signals are based on electrical signals, meaning that transmitted data is received almost instantly, regardless of the device, allowing users to communicate around the world.

Telecommunication Service Providers

Telecommunication service providers often run telecommunication systems. They may provide internet and WAN services in addition to telephone and related services. Global telecommunication service providers include:

• AT&T - The world’s largest telecommunications company in the US.
• Verizon - A North American telecommunications company supporting 5G with headquarters in New York.
• Virgin Media - A British telecommunications company providing telephone, television, and internet services in the UK.
• Vodafone - A UK-based telecommunications company supporting 5G.
• Nokia - A Finnish-based telecommunications and electronic products company.
• China Mobile - A mobile telecommunications company based in Hong Kong.
• Deutsche Telekom - A German telecommunications company with headquarters in Bonn. The largest telecommunications company in Europe by revenue.
• SFR - A French telecommunications with 21.9 million customers as of December 2015.
• Telefónica - One of the largest telecommunications companies based in Madrid, Spain.
• Rogers Communications - A Canadian telecommunications and media company with headquarters in Toronto, Ontario.

History

On 25th July 1837, the first commercial electrical telegraph was demonstrated by Sir William Fothergill, an English inventor and an English scientist, Sir Charles Wheatstone. Both the inventors viewed their devices as “an improvement to the existing electromagnetic telegraph”. A version of the electrical telegraph was independently developed by Samuel Morse. It was unsuccessfully demonstrated on 2nd September 1837. On 27th July 1866, the first transatlantic cable was successfully completed, enabling the first transatlantic communication.

In 1876, the first practical telephone was patented by Alexander Bell, a Scottish inventor who also founded AT&T in 1885. Also, Elisha Gray, an American electrical engineer, filed a caveat for it in 1876. Elisha Gray dropped his caveat and Bell’s patent was approved by the examiner on 3rd March 1876 because he did not oppose Bell’s priority. Elisha Gray had filed his caveat for the variable resistance telephone, but Bell was the first to write down the idea and the first to test it in a telephone.

In 1849, Antonio Meucci invented a device that enabled the electrical transmission of voice. However, the device was impractical as it relied on the electrophonic effect, which required users to place the receiver in their mouths to ‘hear’. In 1878 and 1879, the first commercial telephone services were set up on both sides of the Atlantic in the cities of New Haven and London.