International Telecommunications Networks

In order to provide overseas telecommunications, people had to develop networks that could link widely separated nations. The first networks to provide such linkage were telegraph networks that used undersea cables, but these networks could provide channels for only a few simultaneous communications. Shortwave radio also made it possible for wireless transmissions of both telegraphy and voice over very long distances.

To take advantage of the capability of satellites to provide telecommunications service, companies from all over the world pooled resources and shared risks by creating a cooperative known as the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, or Intelsat, in 1964. Transoceanic satellite telecommunications first became possible in 1965 with the successful launch of Early Bird, also known as Intelsat 1. Intelsat 1 provided the first international television transmission and had the capacity to handle one television channel along with 240 simultaneous telephone calls.

Intelsat has expanded and diversified to meet the global and regional satellite requirements of over 200 nations and territories. In response to private satellite ventures entering the market, the managers of Intelsat have sought to convert the cooperative into a corporation better able to compete with these emerging companies. A separate cooperative known as the International Mobile Satellite Organization (Inmarsat) primarily provides service to oceangoing vessels, but it has expanded operations to include service to airplanes and users in remote land areas not served by cellular radio or wireline services. Inmarsat also seeks to become a private corporation, because of competition from private satellite ventures.

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 1578