In the modern era, telecommunications are present in the daily lives of billions of people around the world, it is a very important part of our society and the services that provide them are constantly used so that people can communicate with each other, no matter that they are in extremely remote places in the world.
What is Telecommunications?
Telecommunications can be defined in a simple way: it is remote communication. Of course, to carry out such communication several techniques and modern technology are used, therefore it would be more accurate to define telecommunications as a set of techniques and devices used to establish a distance communication.
It is worth mentioning that telecommunications are not exclusive to the Earth. In our solar system there are probes from space agencies that establish automatic communications with our planet to send data.That is, telecommunications can cover long distances, or they can also be established between short distances.
Characteristics of Telecommunications
Let’s see what some of the main characteristics of telecommunications are, that is, what most defines them:
- They are remote
Of course, the most obvious characteristic of telecommunications is that they are carried out at a distance. While no “minimum” distance can be established to determine whether a form of communication is telecommunication or not, it is quite obvious that for example a face-to-face conversation would not be, while a phone call to the neighbour is.
- They have a sender and a receiver
Like any type of communication, in telecommunications there is a sender, that is, the person from whom the message originates. On the other hand, there has to be someone who receives the message, which of course is what we are going to define as the receiver. If either of these two elements is not present then the communication does not exist.
- There are different types
A telecommunication does not necessarily have to be between only two people or only between two devices, just as there are different types of technology, there are in fact three types of telecommunications. It is called between two points when there is only one receiver and only one transmitter. It is known as multipoint when there are several transmitters and several receivers involved.
- They change with the advance of technology
The introduction of new and improved tools and inventions has caused communications to evolve greatly throughout the history of technology. Similarly, communication with space probes currently takes longer than we would like, however with the technologies that are sure to emerge in the future these processes will be much faster.
Importance of telecommunications
Telecommunications are extremely important. Not only today, but also throughout history. As we said, the first remote communications used fire and sound, and they evolved over time according to the needs of society.
Initially, telecommunications were used for military and commercial purposes, until the general population began to adopt them for other purposes. Today, telecommunications are one of the pillars of society, as they are used to provide information to the public.
Examples of Telecommunications
Throughout this article we have mentioned different telecommunications techniques and devices, but we are going to emphasize the current ones which are the ones that interest us the most.
- Telephone
The telephone has been the ultimate telecommunications device since it was introduced almost 150 years ago. Even today it is still widely used, and of course throughout its history it has evolved. Today our phones go with us everywhere and more than just one telecommunication device they have become many devices integrated into one.
- Internet
The Internet is the heavyweight of telecommunications, since through different types of software we can communicate in different ways, for example through emails, text chat and even video call services such as Skype. The emergence of applications such as Whatsapp has also revolutionized the way we communicate using Internet-connected mobile phones.
- Television
To this day, television remains the most widely used broadcasting device. Many millions of people watch TV every day, whether it is to get the latest news, to learn more about certain topics, or simply to be entertained and have a good time. Even so, it is worth mentioning that the TV industry is now slowly falling apart thanks to high-speed Internet networks.
- Radio
One system that has undoubtedly suffered from the advance of technology is radio, as global audiences have dropped significantly. In fact, there are those who believe that in the near future radio could cease to be a profitable means of telecommunication and disappear, at least in terms of commercial broadcasts of course.
- Newspaper
The newspaper is not exactly new, it has existed for hundreds of years, but of course it is still a widely used means of communication, in fact it is a form of written telecommunication. Within this same branch, books can also fit in, for example, because they tell a certain story or give information on a particular subject.
- Messaging apps
Chat and messaging applications are part of the Internet, but they certainly deserve to be mentioned separately, since their use is even greater than that of phone calls, both fixed and mobile. Currently, chat and messaging applications are widely used thanks to the low costs of cell phones and Internet services, which also have a greater global presence and allow more people to stay connected.
Telecommunications is a really fascinating subject as we have seen on this occasion and there is a lot to write about. This time we have seen that telecommunications are basically a set of means and technologies used to establish communication at a distance.