Applications of Telecommunication

Can you imagine life without a radio or a television? Telecommunication is transmission of text, still images, audio, video and data for the sake of communication. Electronic equipment such as radio and television help us transfer information to one another. Telecommunication allows people to interact over long distances. Telecommunication has played a significant role in people's lives since the 19th century. Some applications of telecommunication are telegraph, telephone, radio, television and Internet.

Telegraph

Telegraph was invented in 1844. Messages known as telegrams were sent through wires along railroad tracks. Telegraph was used to broadcast up-to-date news all over the country. The Associated Press, a news agency, was founded in 1848, to utilize the telegraph technology. Western Union became the first and foremost telegraph company. It formed a telegraph line joining the West Coast to the East Coast. Later, the International Telegraph Union was established to allow for interchange of messages. Then, the exchange of messages was made possible between North America and Europe. Telegraph was discontinued after World War II, and Western Union became a financial services company.

Telephone

The American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) was formed in 1885. The company became a monopoly in providing telecommunication services to businesses and consumers. Other companies contested AT&T's dominance of the market. In 1982, there was a case against AT&T which was accused of unfair business practices. AT&T broke up and the 'Baby Bells' operating companies, were spinned off. Competitors now challenge AT&T in the telephone sector. Wiretapping a telephone to listen or record conversations is illegal. The incumbent company in the local telephone market has to allow smaller companies to use its network for a price. The incumbent company wanted to raise the price that smaller companies had to pay for such use. The incumbent company also had to integrate services such as long-distance, local and Internet for the smaller companies. On the other hand, the incumbent company had to pay up, when its customers made local calls to smaller companies' customers.

Radio

The radio was first used to improve the army's capability and strength. Afterward, businessmen realized that the radio offered a chance to make profits. They started to broadcast radio and generated income by selling advertisements. The government started to allot frequencies to radio stations. The government also restricted monopolies to ensure that there were a variety of programs, and forbade the broadcasting of indecent material.

Television

The government also regulated the television industry by allowing them to broadcast signals. It also gave ratings to television programing on cable TV and satellite TV such as TV-Y (all children), TV-Y7 (older children aged 7 years and above), TV-G (general audience), TV-PG (parental guidance), TV-14 (children aged 14 years and above) and TV-MA (mature audience). Television sets must be installed with a V-chip that prevents children from watching TV shows intended for adults.

Internet

The Internet is a computer network that allows sending and receiving of e-mails. The Internet has many chat rooms and message boards. The World Wide Web uses HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to link documents so that Internet users can access these web-pages. The web-pages are interactive and incorporate multimedia and animation. The government has made it unlawful to read personal email, except for an employer who is allowed to read his employees' emails. This is especially true if the employee is suspected of sexual harassment or of leaking company secrets. The government has also made it illegal to distribute pornography to persons under 18 years old.

Telecommunication manifests itself in other forms too, such as facsimile. As technology develops, telecom products will become more complex. The role of the government will also grow, as it has to make rules for the kind of content that can be broadcast.