Before the emergence of the Internet and other data networks, telecommunications had a clear meaning: the telephone was an application of technology that allowed people to communicate at a distance by voice. Now, many years later after several technology changes in telecommunications the definition has changed to: Telecommunications is the suite of technologies, devices, equipment, facilities, networks, and applications that support communication at a distance.

The technologies used have changed greatly over the last 50 years. Empowered by research into semiconductors and digital electronics in the telecommunications industry, analog representations of voice, images, and video have been supplanted by digital representations. All types of media can be represented in the same basic form and therefore handled uniformly within a common infrastructure (most commonly as Internet Protocol, or IP, data streams).

Telecommunications are a big part of our society and we wouldn’t be able to live without it anymore. Want to know exactly why it’s important for society? You can find the answers in the infographic below

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

source: telecommunications research