Telecommunication

Telecommunications, also known as telecom, is the exchange of information over significant distances by electronic means and refers to all types of voice, data and video transmission.

This is a broad term that includes a wide range of information transmitting technologies such as:

• telephones (wired and wireless)
• microwave communications
• fiber optics
• satellites
• radio
• television broadcasting
• internet
• telegraphs

A complete, single telecommunications circuit consists of two stations, each equipped with a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter and receiver at any station may be combined into a single device called a transceiver.

The medium of signal transmission can be via electrical wire or cable (also known as “copper”), optical fiber, electromagnetic fields or light. The free space transmission and reception of data by means of electromagnetic fields is called wireless communications.