75 Years of International Phone Calls

Telecom New Zealand celebrated the 75th anniversary of its first international phone call over the weekend. Three quarters of a century ago Sir Apirana Ngata made history when he spoke by phone to the then Acting Australian Prime Minister J. E. Fenton. With the words "Tena Koe, I hope you understand Maori over there in Australia," the Minister of Native Affairs launched the international toll service from Wellington department store Kirkcaldie and Stains.

"Science has achieved the apparently impossible," reported Wellington's Evening Post. "Wonders will never cease."

Telecom's Head of Consumer Marketing Victoria Crone said New Zealanders have never looked back after that first call, which was followed a year later by the launch of calling to Britain.

"We're a nation of great communicators, among the most connected people in the world," says Ms Crone.

"Keeping in touch with the outside world has become so important to our enjoyment of life, family and business, and to us making our mark on the world. But we take it so much for granted today, we forget how much and how quickly communications have transformed our lives."

Overseas talk is about 161 times cheaper per minute today than it was in 1930, she says.

A trans-Tasman call when the service was launched cost

Posted to the site on 28th November 2005