Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago Limited

2 Business View Caribbean Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago Limited Trinidad and tobago’s premier communications company Trinidad and Tobago has had telephone service since 1883. The early system consisted of local, battery- operated phones connected to a magneto switch- board. By the early 1900s, the government owned all the phone the lines in the islands’ rural areas and by 1936, there were approximately 6,300 lines in service throughout the country. In 1949 the first teleprinter link was established. The British-owned Trinidad Con- solidated Telephones Limited spurred the growth of the phone network from the mid 1930s until 1960, when the Government purchased it and the new com- pany became the state-owned Trinidad and Tobago Telephone Service, or TELCO. In 1969, The Trinidad and Tobago External Telecom- munications Company Limited (TEXTEL), was incorpo- rated as a limited liability company - a joint venture participation, with the Government of Trinidad and TSTT's BLINK Entertainment service also supports content distribution like ESPNPlay.com on Tablets and smart phones