Telecommunications refers to communication that involves and surmounts distance. In addition to telephony, the term includes electronic communication via media such as radio, telegraph, television, computer (coupled with a modem connecting it to the Internet), facsimile machines and newer forms of telephony such as cellular or digital telephones.

Information that is telecommunicated can be cast out in the form of voice, symbols, pictures, digital data, or some combination of these. A telecommunications system includes a transmitter, a receiver and a channel of communication—air, water, cable, satellite, telephone wire, broadband technologies. As the economy becomes increasingly post-industrial, in the so-called information economy, the speed and efficiency of transfer of messages becomes a crucial objective in the running of institutions and the profitability of electronic exchange. Telecommunications is thus a huge business nationally and globally, with geopolitical ramifications.

Although the telephone is not the sole instrument for telecommunications, it has become the predominant form. It is the cornerstone of modern two-way communication.

The telephone is accessorized by the answering machine or voice-mail systems so that increasingly it is more difficult to speak with another live person on the phone, while at the same time it is rare to get a busy signal or unanswered phone. Alternate forms of message exchange, such as electronic mail or e-mail, that use telephone lines but send written text from a computer have become increasingly popular for both business and non-business purposes.

With the dawn of new technologies, the familiar telephone is undergoing a monumental transformation, in which it is becoming an intelligent, multimedia center. As newer forms of telecommuting emerge, the phone becomes a companion: the modem is a medium between computers and telephone lines transforming digital data into analog information; video conferencing too requires the use of the telephone. No doubt, in its new, advanced form, the telephone will facilitate interactions between and among people, machines, content, financial transactions, shopping, entertainment and games. Thus, it is essential that the telephone and other networked terminals like the fax machine, cellular phone, and personal and business computers are easy for the user and profitable for manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer. With the advance of computer technology, increasingly people’s activities on the computer and telephone can be traced, raising concerns on issues of privacy and big-brother surveillance.

With the Communications Act of 1934 and the legislation that set up the FCC, telecommunications was established as a regulated and official industry although the telephone and the telegraph had long been part of the American technological landscape.

One objective of this Act was to create an affordable, universal telephone service for the American people. As a result, AT&T was chosen to monopolize the industry (RCA/NBS continued its dominance of radio). Under the protection of the federal government, it became the dominant telephone company (“Ma Bell”) and still exerts a tremendous influence even after the government broke up the monopoly in 1984 (creating “Baby Bells”). The trend was reversed in the 1990s, when AT&T bought big cable operators, like Media One, and multi-national mergers of telecommunication firms were common.

Investors in the twenty-first century bet that telecommunications will assert its role in the exchange of information and commerce.