unications Technologies and Management, First Edition. Riaz Esmailzadeh. © 2016 Riaz Esmailzadeh. Published 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Companion Website: www.wiley.com/go/BTTM Broadband Telecommunications Technologies and Management of the 'loudspeaker' trumpets. However this was only 2 years after the first official Chappe telegraph message, and before the widespread use of electricity and understanding of electromagnetic waves. The mere fact that telephony was considered is noteworthy. A system (pictured)1 for transmitting sound using electrical signals was first demonstrated by Johann Philipp Reis, a German scientist, in 1861. His invention used an animal membrane stretched over a wooden cavity to convert sound energy to an electrical current. The receiver used a coil which magnetised a needle as the current passed through it, and the movement of the needle reproduced sound. Fundamentally, the principle of converting sound energy into electrical current and transmitting it to a remote location is what is used in analogue telephones to this day. Reis, however, was unsuccessful in selling his invention to Francis Joseph I, the emperor of Austria, and died penniless in 1873 [1]. This is in contrast to the story of Alexander Graham Bell (pictured) who succeeded in building a phenomenally successful business out of his telephone invention, and managed to pop- ularise telephony service. The fact that he is widely credited as the inventor of the telephone may owe much to his business success. This is not to discount Bell's technological contributions. Most importantly he improved on the quality of the telephone microphone and speaker, and also the wires that could carry the electrical signal over very long distances. The fidelity of sound was important in the marketing of the device. Better transmission medium and technology facilitated a network that could be rolled out economically. Both of these technological improvements impacted greatly on the business success. One reason often cited for Bell's success is h