What Is Telecommunication?by Hoang Lihuo

    Telecommunications is a general term for a vast array of technologies that send information over distances. Mobile phones, land lines, satellite phones and voice over Internet protocol(VoIP) are all telephony technologies -- just one field of telecommunications. Radio, television and networks are a few more examples of telecommunication.

    The transmission media in telecommunication have evolved through numerous stages of technology, from beacons and other visual signals (such as smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags and optical heliographs), to electrical cable and electromagnetic radiation, including light. Such transmission paths are often divided into communication channels, which afford the advantages of multiplexing multiple concurrent communication sessions. Telecommunication is often used in its plural form, because it involves many different technologies.