Telecommunication is the transfer or transmission of a signal over a distance.  This transfer generally exists for the purpose of communication, and in recent times this communication has been made easier and faster due to a powerful global infrastructure.  We have always had to communicate with others over a long distance, and it has always involved technology of some sort.  Whether by using flags, smoke signals or drums we have always managed to get the message across;  but now instead of just to the other side of the village we can send messages to the other side of the world.

Telecommunication today involves the use of an electronic transmitter.  This may be a telephone, a television, a computer modem, a radio or a satellite.  One thing that this means is that a lot of people potentially have access to the exact same information, not just people in the same country but all across the world.  Some broadcasters have become international forces and spread their messages almost everywhere.  For example, CNN and BBC television signals can be picked up all over the world.  The Internet too is a global infrastructure that makes the same information potentially accessible to everyone who is connected to it.  This phenomena has had a huge impact on cultures and communities worldwide and is one of the most important factors of what we refer to as globalisation.

There are three basic elements that are necessary for a telecommunication system to work.  First you need a transmitter in order to convert the information that you wish to send into a signal.  Next you need a medium in which to carry the signal to its destination, and then of course you need a receiver to convert the signal back into its original form.  Transmitters and receivers along with their mediums of transmission are often combined together to form networks.  These networks are becoming faster and more complex today as vast geometries of network nodes are joined together across the globe.

Huge telecommunication networks have been used by industry to enable and foster the building of global economic empires.  These empires have been built without exception in those countries that have a fast and reliable telecommunication infrastructure in place.  There is a documented concern about this situation of inequality which is known as the global digital divide.  It is a real worry for developing nations as their economic well being seems to be affected in a major way by the communication infrastructures that they have implemented, or in many cases have failed to implement.

This situation can cause a vicious circle of poverty in developing nations as they can't build the capital to build these networks in the first place, and are therefore less likely to gain the economic benefits of having them in place.  The global telecommunication industry will continue to grow at a rapid rate as new parts of the Earth get connected together, what it has to be careful of is that other parts of the world are not left out of this process.