Today we are celebrating the 50th World Telecommunication Day since May 17, 1969. It is a celebration for Tungsram as well, as our company contributed to building a connected society since the beginning of electric communication.
17 May marks the anniversary of the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention (1865) and the creation of the International Telegraph, today Telecommunication, Union (ITU). This organization solved the problem of transmitting information among different telegraph networks. ITU has been issuing regulations and establishing standards to enable smooth worldwide telecommunication (telegraph, telephone, radio, television, ICT) ever since. The World Telecommunication Day was renamed to World Telecommunication and Information Society Day in 2006. It focuses on raising awareness about the possibilities that use of the internet and other information and communication technologies can bring to societies and economies.
The quick growth of Tungsram’s forerunner, the Egger B. and Co., was based on the rapid development of the telegraph and telephone networks in the Habsburg Monarchy and in South-Eastern Europe during the late 19th to early 20th century. The first telephone in Hungary was built by Egger B. and Co. in 1884. The company supplied the Hungarian Post Office with Hughes and Morse telegraphs, telephones, and telephone centers. The proficiency of the company’s small but excellent team ensured technological excellence on the one hand, and on the other hand, licenses taken for the microphone of the J. Berliner Telephone Factory from 1892, and from 1899, various patents of the Western Electric Corp. Chicago, such as the common battery (CB), later the rotary telephone centers.
Various phases of electron tubes production
Source: Újpesti Helytörténeti Gyűjtemény
Between the two world wars, Tungsram was able to provide radio valves and sets according to the latest technological standards thanks to the achievements of the Tungsram Research Laboratory and the technological exchange with the International Standard Electric Co., Philips and Telefunken. A license contract with the Radio Corporation of America in 1939 promised to ensure that the research on television at Tungsram Research Laboratory in the 1930s would quickly be turned into marketable mass products. Semiconductor production from the late 1950s demonstrated the endeavor for keeping pace with the development of the information and communication technology. Today, Tungsram is making considerable advances into using IoT solutions to make life better, especially in developing smart solutions with innovative lighting for cities.
