South African Communication Landmarks

=First Telephone Call=

The First Telephone Call to be made on planet Earth happened on March 10, 1876. The call made by Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, was brief and went, "Mr. Watson--come here--I want to see you." The first use of telecommunication in the Union of South Africa was a single line telegraph connecting Cape Town and Simonstown. After Bell Labs' development of the telephone, the first undersea links were introduced, first connecting Durban and Europe, and soon after, the rest of the world. The network continued in a heavilly regulated market as international technology developed. Until 1991 telephone services were operated by the South African Postal Service.

Telkom incorporated

Telkom was incorporated on September 30, 1991 as a public limited liability company registered under the South African Companies Act, 61 of 1973, as amended. [http://www.telkom.co.za/minisites/ir/companyprofile/company_his.html ]

First Mobile Phone Call

In 1993 GSM was demonstrated for the first time in Africa at Telkom '93 in Cape Town. In 1994 the first GSM networks in Africa were launched in South Africa. [ [http://www.cellular.co.za/gsmhistory.htm History of GSM ] ]

First Public Videoconference

In 1995, the first public videoconference between the continent of Africa and North America occurred on June 24, (2:00-3:00 p.m. PST). It linked a technology fair at Fort Mason in San Francisco with a techno "rave" and cyber-deli in Woodstock, Cape Town, for one hour, using a simple Picturetel system via ISDN. "Cognitive dissident" and communications activist David Robert Lewis initiated the video conference and peacecast on the San Francisco side, and Freddie Bell answered the call in Woodstock, Cape Town. Because of different ISDN standards, a video bridge via Boston was used to achieve the call. Organisations which can take credit, are technology sponsors:Picturetel and Telkom; conference organisors: Unity 95, Parallel University, Vortex, Creativity Cafe and line producers: "Cybersafari to Africa".

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