ABSTRACT

The nationalization of the telephone was never seriously contested, even in the 1920s when the Minister found himself confronted by a takeover bid for both the equipment and the operation of the French telephone from two competitive groups. In order to have a full understanding of the problem, it is necessary to take into account not only the history of the enterprise or the administration charged with operating the telephone network, but also the “ensemble” of what can be termed the “System of Telecommunications”. In the same way between 1920 and 1953 the international radio telegraph communications between the most important nations were secured by another concessionary company: Radio France. The telephone development was impaired by the status which it was given: first the legal status and, secondly, the financial one. The telegraph and telephone branches were reorganized into one telecommunications administration in 1941, which became the Direction generale des telecommunications just after the war.