Centenary of Telephone Services

Within six years of Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone, India welcomed the jingle of telephone bells. The Oriental Telephone and Electric Company Ltd., a London-based firm, was granted a license by the then Governor-General to establish telephone exchanges in Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras in November 1881. These telephone exchanges officially commenced operations on 28th January 1882. It marked a humble beginning for telephones in India, with barely two dozen subscribers in Madras and slightly higher numbers of 90 and 102 in Bombay and Calcutta, respectively.

The introduction of telephones faced resistance from commercial establishments, as evident from an advertisement in a leading Madras newspaper in 1900, inviting people to experience the working of a telephone. The company had to actively promote telephones, almost peddling them to garner interest.

In 1923, the Oriental Telephone & Electric Company established three separate entities: The Madras Telephone Company, The Bombay Telephone Company, and The Bengal Telephone Corporation, to serve a larger clientele. By then, Madras had 1,224 telephone connections, while Bombay and Calcutta had nearly 6,000 and 9,000 subscribers, respectively.

Since Independence, India has focused on indigenous manufacturing of telephone instruments and telecommunication materials. The Indian Telephone Industries was established in Bangalore as a public undertaking in 1948, leading to significant advancements in telecommunication facilities across the country.

Efforts have been made to expand long-distance communication, with the commissioning of multi-channel coaxial and microwave systems. This has provided large blocks of high-grade trunk circuits and telephone facilities nationwide. Major cities are connected through the Subscriber Trunk Dialing system, with over 272 cities now on the national STD network.

Furthermore, international subscriber dialing service has been introduced on a limited scale, and communication satellites, including India’s own, are being effectively utilized. From a modest 1.1 lakh telephones at Independence, the number has now exceeded 29 lakhs. Telecommunication services have proliferated from metropolitan cities to reach every corner of the country, serving the people comprehensively.

The Indian Posts & Telegraphs Department is honored to issue a special postage stamp commemorating 100 years of telephone services in India, recognizing the journey from humble beginnings to widespread connectivity and technological advancement.