India Will Send the World's Last Telegram on July 14

Photo: Rajanish Kakade/AP

144 years after the invention of electric telegraphy, the last telegram service in the world will shut down. This technology is still used in India, where about 5,000 telegrams are sent down the wires daily. But on July 14, it will...stop.

The BSNL board, after dilly-dallying for two years, decided to shut down the service as it was no longer commercially viable. 

"We were incurring losses of over $23 million a year because SMS and smartphones have rendered this service redundant," Shamim Akhtar, general manager of BSNL's telegraph services, told the Monitor. 

What do you think the last telegram should say?

Link -via Marginal Revolution


The last telegram my wife and I received was on our wedding day in 2007, from her great-grandmother, congratulating us on our nuptials.

Telegrams Canada still sends about 20,000 a year, and western union still has the service available. I suspect both have modernized their networks, and the price starts at about $19 per message, but obviously the service is still viable.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
  1 reply
I was offered a job at IBM via telegram. The only one I have ever received. I would like the last telegram to be important rather than poignant. Perhaps announcing the end of some war or the discovery of some cure.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Login to comment.
Click here to access all of this post's 10 comments
Email This Post to a Friend
"India Will Send the World's Last Telegram on July 14"

Separate multiple emails with a comma. Limit 5.

 

Success! Your email has been sent!

close window
X

This website uses cookies.

This website uses cookies to improve user experience. By using this website you consent to all cookies in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

I agree
 
Learn More