The International Bell Telephone Company (IBTC) of
Brussels, Belgium
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, was created in 1879 by the
Bell Telephone Company
The Bell Telephone Company, a common law joint stock company, was organized in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 9, 1877, by Alexander Graham Bell's father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard, who also helped organize a sister company – the New Engl ...
of
Boston, Massachusetts, a precursor entity to the
American Telephone and Telegraph Company
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...
(AT&T), initially to sell imported
telephone
A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...
s and
switchboards in
Continental Europe
Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...
.
[Bob's Old Phones]
European Bell and Western Electric Phones
Bob's Old Phones website. Retrieved August 17, 2010.
IBTC evolved into a notable European
telephone service provider
A telephone company, also known as a telco, telephone service provider, or telecommunications operator, is a kind of communications service provider (CSP), more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunicat ...
and manufacturer, with major operations in several countries.
As a result of anti-trust actions in the U.S., AT&T, its parent, sold its entire European division and IBTC's subsidiaries to the
International Telephone & Telegraph Company in 1925, ending a 46-year presence on the continent.
Organization
In 1879
Gardiner Hubbard, father-in-law of
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell (, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Te ...
and the first president of the
Bell Telephone Company
The Bell Telephone Company, a common law joint stock company, was organized in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 9, 1877, by Alexander Graham Bell's father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard, who also helped organize a sister company – the New Engl ...
, founded the International Bell Telephone Company for promoting sales of its telephone equipment throughout Europe. During his tour of the continent the
Belgian government
The Federal Government of Belgium ( nl, Federale regering, french: Gouvernement fédéral, german: Föderalregierung) exercises executive power in the Kingdom of Belgium. It consists of ministers and secretary of state ("junior", or deputy-mini ...
offered him the greatest financial incentives to establish a European subsidiary's headquarters in their country.
The International Bell Telephone Company (IBTC) shortly evolved into a holding company for various telephone service and production divisions. Its major manufacturing unit was the Bell Telephone Manufacturing Company (BTMC), which was founded in
Antwerp, Belgium
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, , on 26 April 1882.
[
Huurdeman, Anton A]
The Worldwide History Of Telecommunications
Wiley-IEEE, 2003, , , pg.179.
BTMC was created as a joint venture by the International Bell Telephone Company of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and the
Western Electric Company
The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ma ...
of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
.
BTMC then established ''Compagnie belge du téléphone Bell'' (Bell Telephone Company of Belgium) in the same year as an operating subsidiary, one of several companies that provided telephone services in the country, the others having evolved principally from telegraph carriers.
[
Kingsbury, John E]
The Telephone And Telephone Exchanges: Their Invention And Development
Longmans, Green, and Co., New York/London, 1915.
BTMC came under majority ownership by the telephone manufacturer
Western Electric
The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ma ...
, and also established multiple other divisions as national companies across
Continental Europe
Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...
and
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
.
Western Electric was itself later majority-owned by the
American Bell Telephone Company
The Bell Telephone Company, a common law joint stock company, was organized in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 9, 1877, by Alexander Graham Bell's father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard, who also helped organize a sister company – the New Englan ...
, returning control of BTMC back to the Bell organization.
Bell Telephone Manufacturing Company
The Bell Telephone Manufacturing Company (BTMC) was founded on 26 April 1882 as the principal manufacturing business to assist International Bell with its growth throughout Europe, where many countries had nationalistic trade policies favouring domestic suppliers. BTMC was owned 45% by the American Bell Telephone Company, and 55% by Bell's major U.S. supplier,
Western Electric
The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ma ...
, of which Bell was also a majority stakeholder. Western Electric, a U.S. company formed during the era of the telegraph, became American Bell's sole telephone supplier the same year. In a share sale to Western Electric, American Bell later disposed of its ownership of BTMC in 1890 to concentrate on telephone system operations, but since American Bell had been Western Electric's majority shareholder since 1881 it maintained an indirect ownership of IBTC.
The IBTC was created for ''"...the production, sale, purchase and leasing of equipment for telephony and telegraphy and everything directly or indirectly related to electricity"''
[Estreich, Bob; Verhelst, Jan.]
The Bell Telephone Manufacturing Company of Antwerp, Belgium
Retrieved from BobsOldPhones.net website, March 31, 2012. Later, as demand for services bloomed, the Bell Telephone Company had insufficient operating funds to quickly increase the telephone exchange network, resulting in Western Electric buying out all 45% of the shares held by Bell in 1890.
[
StowgerNet Museum]
StowgerNet Telephone Museum website. Retrieved 20 August 2010.
Ezra Gilliland
Ezra Torrance Gilliland (June 17, 1845 – May 13, 1903) was an inventor who designed the telephone switchboard and the magneto bell. Gilliland had a laboratory in his home and "kept seven expert electricians employed" as he worked on his ideas. H ...
of Western Electric helped establish the manufacturing arm, at which point a young university educated, multilingual American, Francis R. Welles, took over its leadership, with the title of "Administrateur Delegue".
Francis Raymond Welles (b. Athens, Pa., August 18, 1854 – d. Vernet-Les-Bains, France, December 14, 1936), graduated the
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees.
The University of Roc ...
with an Accelerated bachelor's degree (A.B.) in 1875, and a year later started work as secretary to Enos M. Barton, a co-founder of Western Electric. Barton had earlier sent him to Australia and New Zealand to help with operations there, and Welles was then transferred to Brussels. Welles would lead the overseas BTMC company for the next 30 years assisted by Louis De Groof, a Belgian authorised agent.
[
Stephen B. Adams, Orville R. Butler]
Manufacturing The Future: A History Of Western Electric
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press
A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
, 1999, pg.49, , .
IBTC started up subsidiary manufacturing plants in major cities throughout all of Europe, since nationalistic policies favoured local manufacturers.
In the year after its founding BTMC employed 35 people, and its workshops were accommodated within a small plant at No. 4 Boudewijnstraat,
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, .
Its factory was completely rebuilt after a fire in 1882, and by 1885, the Bell Antwerp facility had completed its conversion from importing telephones and switchboards from the U.S., to local manufacturing, with production more than doubling annually as BTMC began to supply their other divisions throughout Europe. By 1900, BTMC was also its new parent's (
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...
) main supplier of telephone systems to Asia, the Middle East and South America, and the facility had increased to a staff of 700 operating from a greatly expanded plant.
The Antwerp facility was largely responsible for introducing the telephone to much of Europe, with its first manual and
rotary dial telephone exchanges. In 1884 the very first European intercity line was created between Antwerp and Brussels, and in 1887 the first international line in Europe was opened between Brussels and Paris.
By the end of the nineteenth century European governments moved to
nationalize
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
their phone companies, and the telephone service concessions of la Compagnie Belge du Téléphone Bell were allowed to expire or were purchased by the Belgian government.
Francis Welles retired from BTMC in 1913 and returned to the United States shortly before the First World War. Welles and was succeeded by Alexis Mois. The Great War inflicted severe damage to BTMC's operations and production facilities, much of which was destroyed or seized by the invading German army. The company's U.S. managers immediately departed for the United Kingdom or returned home, while many plant employees had been seconded to the Belgian army, or moved to other unoccupied countries. Western Electric's head office contact and control of the company was lost for the duration of the war and almost all engineering development and manufacturing there stopped for the remainder of the war.
In its early existence the Bell Telephone Manufacturing Company of Belgium took on the role of a child of two often squabbling parents, Western Electric and the American Bell Telephone Company (later to become AT&T). Sired by Bell Telephone's Hubbard and Vail it would become the custody of Western Electric through share purchase, which then nurtured and raised it only to see its Belgian concession reclaimed by a nationalistic government. However even through a succession of owners the BTMC has retained its original name, even to the present day.
It is currently a unit of
Nokia Corporation
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...
by the name of Nokia Bell NV.
Early European expansion
Belgium
The first telephone exchanges in Belgium were opened in 1878. A company was formed in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
in 1879, and others followed. Competition was recognised as unsatisfactory, and the various companies were encouraged to amalgamate. The Compagnie Belge du Téléphone Bell (the ''Bell Telephone Company of Belgium'') was formed in 1882, as the Belgian subsidiary of the International Bell Telephone Company of New York.
By the end of 1886, the Belgian division had a total 6,900 kilometers of telephone lines, and 3,532 subscribers in seven cities, including
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
,
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, ,
Charleroi
Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593. ,
Ghent
Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...
,
Verviers
Verviers (; wa, Vervî) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium.
The municipality consists of the following districts: Ensival, Heusy, Lambermont, Petit-Rechain, Stembert, and Verviers. It is also the ...
, and
Liège
Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège.
The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...
.
[The Electrical Journal]
The Telephone Statistics Of Europe
University of Michigan, Volume 19, pg.241.
The
Rotary machine switching system was manufactured in Antwerp from about 1913, and was used by several countries around the world including France, the Netherlands, Norway and New Zealand (but not as hoped by the British Post Office). However manufacture was disrupted by the German invasion in Belgium in 1914.
Switzerland
The first exchange in
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
was opened in
Zurich, operated under a license granted by the IBTC to a group of business men on July 24, 1880. During 1881 exchanges were subsequently opened in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
,
Lausanne
, neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...
, and Winterthur by the government, which shortly after bought out the
Zurich exchange. Fourteen exchanges were in operation at the end of 1883, and twice as many a year later.
Netherlands
The Nederlandsche Bell Telefoon Maatschappij (''Dutch Bell Telephone Company'') was formed in the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
in 1881.
By the end of 1886, the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
division had a total of 3,700 kilometers of telephone line, plus 2,623 subscribers in eight cities, including
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
,
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
,
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
, Groningen, Haarlem, and
Arnhem
Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both banks of ...
.
Italy
In
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, the company quickly established exchanges in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
,
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
, and
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
, and exchanges in a dozen of the other largest cities were started in 1881 by other interests under the auspices of a group of Parisian financiers.
By the end of 1886, the Italian division had a total of 8,073 subscribers in twelve cities, plus approximately 12,500 kilometers of telephone lines. The largest exchanges were in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
(2,022 subscribers),
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
(1,089),
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
(950) and
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
(873).
Sweden and Norway (1881–1908)
The International Bell Telephone Company was also responsible for the introduction of the telephone into
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
, and
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
.
In 1881, exchanges were established in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
,
Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
, and
Malmö
Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...
.
IBTC established Sweden's first telephone company, Stockholms Bell Telefonaktiebolag, formed with the assistance of three former Swedish PTT superintendents named Lybeck, Bratt and Recin.
The new company established their first exchange in the Skandinaviska Kreditaktiebolag Building on Västerlånggatan Street in Stockholm, originally utilizing equipment designed by
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell (, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Te ...
and his assistant
Thomas Watson, and imported from Bell's supplier in Boston. The first Swedish phones, which had signal coils, ringers and
Blake microphones, were available as desk or wall models, connecting to Gilliland type switchboards.
[Tahvanainen, K.V]
Sweden's First Telephone Company
Ericsson historical website, EricssonHistory.com. Retrieved 20 October 2012.
When Bell's Swedish phone exchange formally opened in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
on 1 September 1880, it had 121 subscribers, increasing to 218 later in the year, with the majority of its users belonging to government, business and upper-class homes. The Swedish subsidiary soon opened more exchanges in the Södermalm and Norrmalm sections of the capital within its first year, operating between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. daily, but in May 1883 moved to around-the-clock operations, charging subscribers between 160 and 280
Swedish kronor (SEKs) per year depending on their locations within Stockholm (less expensive) or outside of the city proper (more expensive). Bell's fee structure was not notably expensive, as rates were higher in most countries at the time and only lower in a few others.
After 1883 the Bell subsidiary was forced to reduce its fees due to competition from another newly formed phone company, although it was also able to increase its subscriber base. It later had to restrict its operations to the Östermalm section of the city, where it started a new network for private subscribers with lower fees using a different rate plan with a lower number permitted calls per month (its initial rate structure provided unlimited calling). In 1898 the Bell subsidiary contracted with its competitor, SAT, allowing it to operate their facilities, thereby increasing its subscriber base to about 7,000 homes and businesses.
Due to government intervention and other reasons, the Bell subsidiaries were eventually legislated out of Sweden and Norway in favour of national firms. Stockholms Bell Telefonaktiebolag ceased its telephone operations completely in 1908, having acquired 15,285 subscribers by that time, in a regulatory environment which had previously permitted unrestricted telephone business competition.
Russia
The Bell Company introduced the telephone to
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
in 1883 in
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
(or Petrograd) and
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
.
By the end of 1886, IBTC's Russian division had a total of 3,440 subscribers in six cities, with 9,550 kilometers of telephone lines. Its largest exchanges were in
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
(1,080 subscribers), followed by
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
(690) and
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
(533).
Significant trade developed between Belgium and Russia during the Tsarist era, with up to 20,000 Belgians from hundreds of companies working there. However all of the IBTC's Russian investments and plants were subsequently lost during the 1917
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
.
Divestiture
At the very close of 1899, the American Bell Telephone Company was acquired, for business purposes, by its own subsidiary, the
American Telephone & Telegraph Company
AT&T Corporation, originally the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is the subsidiary of AT&T Inc. that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agen ...
(AT&T), which then became the head of the monolithic and
monopolistic
A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a spec ...
Bell System
The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America for over one hundr ...
.
Significant criticism of AT&T (a
monopoly
A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...
) had emerged in the United States that domestic telephone system rates were higher than they needed to be, and that AT&T was using those revenues to subsidize its European operations. Due to that reason and others, and also due to the U.S. Government's regulatory intervention, AT&T president
Walter Gifford divested almost all international interests held by the Bell System in 1925, with the exceptions of the
Bell Telephone Company of Canada and
Northern Electric
Northern Electric was an electricity supply and distribution company serving north east England.
History
It had its origins as the North Eastern Electricity Board, formed as part of the nationalisation of the electricity industry by the Elect ...
.
The European division and its subsidiaries were sold to the
International Telephone & Telegraph Company, at the start of that company's meteoric rise in the international telecommunications industry.
[Martinelli, Arianna]
''The Dynamics of Technological Discontinuities: A Patent Citation Network Analysis Of Telecommunication Switches (thesis)''
Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Eindhoven, Netherlands, 2009, pg.53.
See also
*
Bell Telephone Company
The Bell Telephone Company, a common law joint stock company, was organized in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 9, 1877, by Alexander Graham Bell's father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard, who also helped organize a sister company – the New Engl ...
*
Victorian Internet
''The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-Line Pioneers'' is a 1998 book by Tom Standage. The book was first published in September 1998 through Walker & Company and discusses the development a ...
, describing advances in telecommunications during the 19th century, and their effects on society
*
Mundaneum
The Mundaneum was an institution which aimed to gather together all the world's knowledge and classify it according to a system called the Universal Decimal Classification. It was developed at the turn of the 20th century by Belgian lawyers Paul ...
, a precursor to the Internet organized in Brussels in 1910
*
References
:''This article incorporates text from John Kingsbury, "''The Telephone And Telephone Exchanges: Their Invention And Development''", a work in the public domain.''
{{Telecommunications
1925 disestablishments in Belgium
Bell System
Defunct telecommunications companies
Telecommunications companies of Belgium
Defunct telecommunications companies of the United States
AT&T subsidiaries
Alexander Graham Bell
Telecommunications companies established in 1879
Telecommunications companies disestablished in 1925
American companies established in 1879
American companies disestablished in 1925
Belgian companies established in 1879