| 12 August 1858 | Canada | The first message by transatlantic telegraph cable is sent from Newfoundland, Canada, to Valentia, Ireland. |
| 1870 | UK, India | A telegraph link between Britain and India opens. |
| 10 March 1876 | USA | Scottish-born US inventor Alexander Graham Bell transmits the first complete sentence by voice over wire using his newly invented telephone in the USA: ‘Mr Watson, come here. I want you’. |
| 28 January 1878 | USA | The first commercial telephone exchange opens in New Haven, Connecticut; it has 21 subscribers. The following month the first telephone directory is published by the New Haven Telephone Co. with 50 subscribers listed. |
| 1879 | UK | The Bell Telephone Company and the Edison Telephone Company Ltd open the first telephone exchanges in London, England. |
| 1880 | USA | Fifty thousand private telephones are in use in the USA. |
| 1880 | UK | The first telephone directory in Britain is published by the London Telephone Company in England: it contains just 255 listings. |
| 1884 | UK | The General Post Office in Britain introduces public telephone boxes. |
| 1891 | UK, France | A telephone link is established between London, England, and Paris, France. |
| 1900 | USA | There are now over 1,300,000 telephones in use in the USA. |
| 1906 | USA | A telephone directory enquiries service is introduced in New York City. |
| 1906 | United Kingdom | The National Telephone Co. and the General Post Office introduce coin-operated telephone boxes in Britain. The first is at Ludgate Circus Post Office in London, England. Users pay after completing their calls. |
| 1912 | United Kingdom | The first commercial automatic telephone exchange in Britain is opened in Epsom, Surrey. |
| 1922 | UK | The number of telephone subscribers in Britain exceeds one million. |
| 7 January 1927 | USA, UK | A transatlantic telephone service begins between London, England, and New York City, provided by the American Telephone and Telegraph company (AT&T). |
| August 1932 | United Kingdom | The GPO (General Post Office) introduces the telephone service Directory Enquiries in the UK. |
| 25 March 1936 | Germany | In Germany, the first public videophone service, to be used by Aryans only, starts in Berlin and Leipzig. |
| 1 July 1937 | UK | The 999 emergency telephone number for police, fire, and ambulance services is introduced in the UK. |
| November 1940 | UK | There are 3.3 million telephones and 8.9 million radios in use in the UK. |
| 1945 | USA | There are 27.8 million telephones in the USA, or one telephone for every five people. 45% of homes have telephones. |
| 1950 | USA | There are 43 million telephones in the USA and 60% of homes have telephones. |
| 18 February 1950 | USA | In the USA, telephone direct-dialing becomes possible between New York and New Jersey. |
| 26 July 1965 | UK | The British General Post Office announce that telephone numbers are to lose their letters and will consist of numerals only, to facilitate direct-dial international calls. |
| 1971 | USA, UK | Telephone direct-dialling between London, England, and New York City is introduced. |
| 14 April 1983 | UK | BT (British Telecom) launches the first cordless phone in Britain, the Fidelity Wanderer. It costs £170 and is effective up to 180 m/600 ft from base. |
| 1 January 1985 | UK | Racal-Vodaphone introduces the first mobile phones in Britain. |
