The Greatest Telecoms Success Stories

It is no secret that advancements in the Telecommunications sector are happening at breakneck speed, with new innovations, technologies and services becoming increasingly accessible. Due to this fact, both Telecoms providers and consumers must always stay on their toes, anticipating the next best thing. But where did it all start? Well, it was before the last century… So, let’s take a walk down memory lane through the most significant Telecoms Success stories that have brought us to where we currently are!

It all started with the telephone, or did it?
Much has been said about the history of the telephone, and several inventors have been speculated to have led to its conception. However, the telephone was officially patented by scientist Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. Needless to say, it had nothing to do with what we know today as the telephone, but it was undoubtedly an important beginning. Yet before the telephone, there was another device, the electric telegraph. A discovery by inventor and artist Samuel Morse (you know, Morse code) that operated by transmitting signals via dots and dashes.

And then came TV…?
Namely, it was around 1927 when inventor Philo Taylor Farnsworth made the first public TV demonstration in San Francisco and patented it. It was a large device with a very small screen and, of course, a black-and-white image. Still, saying it was a success story would be an understatement. But the TV was actually based on its predecessor, which was none other than the radio. Sound traveled before the picture, though it was a team effort by a number of inventors, and things still need to be clarified as to who officially invented it, with Guglielmo Marconi generally taking the credit. We do know for sure, however, that it, too, was based on telegraph technology.

Enter: Internet
Believe it or not, the idea for our beloved and now essential internet was conceived during the Cold War years, when there was a need for a computer network. Later, in the 70s, computer scientists Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn created the Transmission Control Protocol, which later evolved into the IP. Nevertheless, until the 90s, this incredible concept was only available for research purposes by educational institutions. From then on, it took the world by storm. It is arguably the single greatest Telecoms success story to date.

Hello, Mobile Phone
One would argue that the cell phone is the next natural step after the landline telephone. And they would be right. Regardless, it took some time to take off. While innovations in terms of the cellular network had been made since the 50s and 60s, it was not until 1973 that American engineer Martin Cooper of Motorola (ring a bell?) officially invented the mobile phone. The cellular network system began, analogically obviously, with 1G, or the First Generation. It was later followed by the now digital 2G launched in 1991, then 3G, 4G, 5G, and the rest is history… In fact, the last one, 5G, was treated with particular suspicion, accompanied by various conspiracy theories when Telecoms providers first advertised it. And yet no one stopped using their cell phone, further showing us the power of telephony and what a vital success story the invention of the mobile phone was as a whole.

As we can see, there is no shortage of ideas, developments and inventions regarding Telecommunications. But even those inventions continue to evolve from their original form. Just take a look at mobile phones and networks, how much they have transformed over the years and how many more features have been added to them. Telecoms providers know this better than anyone, as they are tasked with introducing new updates and Telecoms services to the eager public. With so many Telecoms success stories then, there is only one remaining question: What will be the next one?