WORLD-WIDE TELEPHONY 505 



there has been in all large telephone networks a trend towards higher 

 standards of service and this has been a favorable factor in making 

 possible the beginnings of an intercontinental service. 



Gkxekal Discussion and Conclusions 

 The extension of overseas telephony during the past five years has 

 already linked together into one system all of the largest continental 

 telephone networks of the world and w^th the completion of further 

 extensions now under way, this world-wide system will include all but 

 two of the wire networks which give access to more than 20,000 

 telephones in all six continents of the earth. True, many of these 

 overseas connections are as yet but slender threads of conversation, 

 important perhaps not so much because of the communication which 

 they now handle but because they represent the first realization of 

 great possibilities in the achievement of a world-wide telephone system 

 closely linking together the continents of the earth. In the words of 

 Mr. Walter S. Gift'ord, President of the American Telephone and 

 Telegraph Company, in the Annual Report of that company for the 

 year 1926, the ultimate ideal of a world-wide system is that it shall 

 enable "anyone anywhere to pick up a telephone and talk to anyone 

 else anywhere else, clearly, quickly and at a reasonable cost." 



What are the obstacles to the realization of this ideal for world-wide 

 telephony? Intercontinental service is subject to extraordinary 

 technical and operating difficulties and as yet only the first steps in 

 overcoming these difficulties have been taken. The quality of service 

 at the present time both as regards transmission, continuity and speed 

 of service is not comparable with that given today on the large conti- 

 nental telephone networks, but is more comparable to the standards 

 of service on long continental connections in the early days of their 

 development 15 years ago. The costs of intercontinental service are 

 materially higher than the costs for the longest connections on conti- 

 nental networks even where distances are similar. These facts 

 indicate that to a large extent the future development of interconti- 

 nental telephony is dependent upon a continuance of those brilliant 

 advances in the communication art which have made our present 

 intercontinental circuits possible. Further technical developments 

 making it possible to improve the quality and reduce the cost of 

 intercontinental services will, as they become available, have a 

 tremendous effect. 



The development of overseas services of large magnitude will 

 require a closer coordination between the telephone plants and 

 practices of the various continental wire networks than exists at the 



