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History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications
from the first submarine cable of 1850 to the worldwide fiber optic network

The Evolution of Cable & Wireless
by Bill Glover
The chart below shows a timeline of the many companies that consolidated over the years to become Cable & Wireless. Click on the links to read Bill Glover's history of each company.
John Pender was a pivotal figure in the early development of submarine telegraphy and continued to play a major role in the industry until his death in 1896.

The Anglo-Mediterranean Telegraph Company
The British-Indian Submarine Telegraph Company
The Falmouth, Gibraltar and Malta
Telegraph Company

The Marseilles, Algiers and Malta
Telegraph Company

merged in 1872 to form

THE EASTERN TELEGRAPH COMPANY

The British Australian Telegraph Company
The British-Indian Extension Company
The China Submarine Telegraph Company


merged in 1873 to form

THE EASTERN EXTENSION, AUSTRALASIA & CHINA TELEGRAPH COMPANY

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The African Direct Telegraph Company
The Eastern & South African Telegraph Company
The Europe & Azores Telegraph Company
The London-Platino Brazilian Telegraph Company
The Pacific & European Telegraph Company
The River Plate Telegraph Company
Société Anonyme Belge des Câbles Télégraphiques
The West African Telegraph Company
The West Coast of America Telegraph Company
The Western Telegraph Company

merged in 1902 with

The Eastern Telegraph Company
and
The Eastern Extension, Australasia & China Telegraph Company

to form

THE EASTERN & ASSOCIATED TELEGRAPH COMPANIES

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The Eastern & Associated Telegraph Companies

merged in 1929 with

Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company
Pacific Cable Board
West Indian Cable & Wireless system operated by the Pacific Cable Board
GPO Imperial Atlantic Cables
GPO Beam Services
British East African Broadcast Company

to form

IMPERIAL & INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS LTD

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The following were acquired by Imperial & International during 1929-32

The Indo-European Telegraph Company
The Indo-European Telegraph Department of the Government of India
West India & Panama Telegraph Company
The Direct West India Cable Company
Halifax & Bermudas Cable Company

In 1934 Imperial & International Communications Ltd. changed its name to

CABLE & WIRELESS LTD

Site visitor Marshall Waugh, ex-Cable & Wireless, shares this recruitment booklet from 1970:

Last revised: 12 March, 2021

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You can help - if you have cable material, old or new, please contact me. Cable samples, instruments, documents, brochures, souvenir books, photographs, family stories, all are valuable to researchers and historians.

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—Bill Burns, publisher and webmaster: Atlantic-Cable.com