Overseas Telecommunications Commission
Encyclopedia
Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Limited
Amalgamated Wireless Ltd . Throughout most of the 20th century AWA was Australia's largest and most prominent electronics organisation, undertaking development, manufacture and distribution of radio, telecommunications, television and audio equipment as well as broadcasting services.After the...
(AWA) and Cable & Wireless
Cable & Wireless
Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC is a global telecommunications company headquartered in Bracknell, United Kingdom. Cable & Wireless specialises in providing communication networks and services to large corporates, governments, carrier customers and resellers...
, and was charged with responsibility for all international telecommunications services into, through and out of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
On 1 February 1992 it was merged with Australia’s domestic telecommunications carrier, the Australian Telecommunications Corporation Limited (“Telecom”) to create the Australian and Overseas Telecommunications Corporation Limited (AOTC). The new organisation underwent a corporate identity review and was subsequently renamed Telstra Corporation Limited (“Telstra
Telstra
Telstra Corporation Limited is an Australian telecommunications and media company, building and operating telecommunications networks and marketing voice, mobile, internet access and pay television products and services....
”).
When first established in 1946, OTC inherited facilities which had been depleted during World War II, and faced rising costs and falling profits. From this tenuous beginning, the organisation was to grow over the years to gain world standing on the international telecommunications stage.
Throughout rapid developments in undersea cable networks, global satellite systems and burgeoning digital technologies, OTC maintained a keen watch over its services to ensure continued quality. It also maintained and developed its links with maritime services, one of the initial arms of Australia’s international telecommunications network.