Voice

Dec 20, 2017

10 Things You Didn’t Know About TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate

CommsUpdate is TeleGeography’s free daily summary of the top global telecom stories. Born out of desk research for TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database Service, CommsUpdate is produced by TeleGeography’s team based in the historic city of Exeter in Devon, England.

To celebrate the 15th anniversary of CommsUpdate, we’ve put together a list of weird and wonderful facts about your favorite telecom newsletter.

Dec 18, 2017

The Telecom Stories That Dominated Our Blog in 2017

In 2017 you told us that you wanted to read about content providers, SD-WAN, internet capacity growth, and the submarine cable boom. So we wrote about those things!

We also covered the cloud, connectivity trends, network pricing, and much more.

As the year winds down, we pulled 10 of our most popular posts to capture the year in telecom. See if your favorite stories made the cut below.

Oct 26, 2017

A TBT to the First-Ever Federal Communications Commission Annual Report

Happy Throwback Thursday.

Today we're looking back to 1936 when the first annual report of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was released. (And it had everything: broadcasting! Cable television! Wireless telecommunications! Spectrum management!)

Sep 8, 2017

Island Hopping: Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa

TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database includes comprehensive coverage of the world’s major telecoms markets—but we also profile some of the smallest principalities, republics, and territories in the world.

Here’s another peek at what’s happening in three unique island markets.

Mar 31, 2017

Telephone All Over the World With This Throwback AT&T Advert

Call around the world for just $90!

In 1964, AT&T took out advertisements to remind consumers how affordable international long-distance service had become—just $12 for a typical overseas call.

Mar 27, 2017

Before Skype and FaceTime: When The Picturephone Was The Future

"From a booth set up in Grand Central Terminal, a person could talk to a friend in Chicago or Washington while also seeing them on a small video screen. The friend would also have to go to a special booth in those cities to take the call. The price for the novelty of a three-minute call was $16.

That would be equivalent to $121 in today’s money."

Mar 3, 2017

From the Telecom Archive: A Continent is Bridged

“I talked with one of your engineers nearly 20 years ago. He said something about waves. Said you needed something that would make the long-distance wires talk farther.”

That’s how our conversation begins between two men, one of them an engineer, in this 1940 film that looks back on AT&T’s first transcontinental phone line.

Feb 1, 2017

Rise of the Apps: How OTT Traffic is Balancing a Carrier Slump

We recently wrote about the decline of international carrier traffic, which comes at the hands of “over-the-top” (OTT) communications services.

Jan 27, 2017

In 1954, Popular Mechanics' Headlines Were About Connecting Hemispheres

Here's a good one from the archives.

"America and Europe will soon be linked by the first trans-Atlantic telephone cables," reads this March 1954 article from Popular Mechanics.

Jan 26, 2017

Market Sees First Decline in International Voice Carrier Traffic Since Great Depression

With the TeleGeography Report hot off the press, it seems that there are more than a few good stories nestled in this year’s data.

First up is the curious discovery that 2015 marked a turning point in the market. It was the first time since the Great Depression that international carrier voice traffic declined.