Development, Growth, Performance and Closure of Telegraph Services – A Case Study of Indian Telegraph Service

Abstract

The first telegraph line was opened in India by the East India Company in 1851 for their use, and the service was made available for public traffi c in 1855. Initially, the telegraph service functioned along with the Postal Department and it was under the control of PWD in 1851, Commerce and Industry Department in 1905, and back to PWD in 1914. Thereafter a combined P&T Department was formed in 1914 and a separate Telecom Department in 1985. Finally, it was converted as a Telecom Company, the BSNL in 2000.The service remained as an important mode of communication for more than one century to the pockets of the common man, lawyers, Jawans, and armed forces and the service run on welfare lines from the beginning. On the introduction of other latest modern telecom services, the demand for the service came down drastically after 2000. Faced with a huge shortfall in revenue the state run telecom fi rm, the BSNL discontinued the telegram service with effect from 15th July 2013. Telegrams have been of social and historical signifi cance for 163 years in the country and the vacuum created by its closure cannot be fi lled in by any other mode of service.