Dot, dash, full stop: Telegram service ends July 15
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- The Hindu Photo Library Once the main source of quick and urgent communication, the telegram has lost the race to mobile phones and emails.
Come July 15, one of India’s oldest communication services — the
telegram — will become history. Financial constraints have forced the
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd to wind up the telegraphic service, which would
be remembered mainly as a historically inexpensive but relatively quick
method of sending alerts related to births, deaths and emergency
situations.
“The growing use of mobile phones and Internet has led to steep decline
in the usage of the telegraphic service…it [the telegram] has become
financially unviable. After stopping telegram service for overseas
communication earlier this year, we have now decided to discontinue it
for the domestic market from July 15. The BSNL Board has already
approved it. Final clearance is now being sought from the Department of
Telecommunications,” a senior BSNL official told The Hindu.
In India, the first telegraph message was transmitted live through
electrical signals between Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Diamond Harbour, a
distance of about 50 km, on November 5, 1850; and the service was
opened for the general public in February 1855.
Over the years, the BSNL made several technical upgrades in the
telegraph service, with the latest being the introduction of a web-based
messaging system in 2010. However, growing Internet penetration and
cheaper mobile phones in the last decade have kept people away from the
182 telegraph offices across the country.
“In May 2011, we revised telegram charges after six decades to arrest
declining revenues…but it did not work. It is estimated that the BSNL is
suffering an annual loss of Rs. 300 - 400 crore from its telegraph
service alone. As it has virtually become redundant, it is prudent to
shut it down. However, there will be no job cuts and all those working
in telegraph offices will perform other jobs related to telephone and
Internet services,” the official added.
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