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Worldwide use of telegrams by country

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This is a list of telegram services by country.

Current service

[edit]
CountryComments
Image AlgeriaAlgérie Poste offers telegram services under the name Barki@tic.[1]
Image ArgentinaCorreo Argentino still offers telegram service within Argentina and to international destinations.
Image ArubaPost Aruba still offers telegram service.
Image Austriatelegramm.at offers telegram service.
Image AzerbaijanTelegrams can be sent at offices of Azərpoçt.
Image BahrainBatelco still offers telegram service. Telegrams are sent for deaths or important occasions as they are thought to be more formal than email or fax, but less so than a letter.
Image BelarusBeltelecom offers a service for the transmission of telegrams within the country and around the world. "Ordinary" and "urgent", "certified" and "government" telegrams can be sent to any address in Belarus and other countries.[2] There is also a service for sending Lux (=LX) (on a greeting card) and Deluxe (=LXDEUIL) (funeral card) telegrams to Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. Telegrams in Belarus are delivered within 224 hours.
Image Bosnia and HerzegovinaHrvatska pošta Mostar, BH Pošta, and Pošte Srpske offer telegram services.
Image BrazilCorreios still offers telegram service, only within the country. Telegrams can be sent from any post office, by telephone and by the Internet.[3]
Image CanadaTelegrams Canada still offers telegram service. AT&T Canada (previously CNCP Telecommunications) had discontinued its telegram service in 2001 and later became MTS Allstream.
Image ChinaAs of 2026, China Unicom still offers public telegram sending from Beijing to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shandong, Hebei and Hefei.
Image ColombiaAs of 2015, 4-72 still offered telegram service.
Image Costa RicaCorreos de Costa Rica still offers telegram service.
Image CroatiaHrvatska pošta still offers telegram service. Telegrams may be sent via the Internet, telephone or fax, and are optionally deliverable by telephone or fax. Illustrated and musical telegrams are available for special occasions.[4] It's often used to send condolences.[5]
Image CubaCorreos de Cuba [es] still offers telegram service.
Image IranTelecommunication Infrastructure Company of I.R.Iran still offers telegram service.[6]
Image IsraelIsrael Postal Company still offers telegram service. Telegrams may be sent via the Internet or by a telephone operator. Illustrated telegrams are available for special occasions.[7]
Image ItalyPoste Italiane still offers telegram service. As of 2010 around 12.5 million telegrams were sent annually, and telegrams are considered the standard way to offer condolences.[8]
Image JapanNTT and KDDI still offer domestic telegram service. Telegrams are used mainly for special occasions such as weddings, funerals, graduations, etc.[9] Local offices offer telegrams printed on special decorated paper and envelopes. International service was discontinued on 31 March 2026.[10]
Image JordanJordan Post Company still offers telegram service.
Image KuwaitThe Ministry of Communications maintains a local and international telegram service. A form must be filled out, and along with a copy of one's civil ID, must be delivered in person.
Image LatviaLatvijas pasts offers telegram service transmitted with a special computer network between post offices.
Image MauritiusMauritius Post maintains a domestic telegram service.
Image MyanmarAs of 2014, MPT still offers a domestic telegram service.
Image MexicoTelmex still offers telegram service as a low-cost service for people who cannot afford or do not have access to e-mail, under the name of 'telegraficos telegrama'.[11]
Image MonacoThe Monaco Post Office still offers telegram service according the website of the Monaco Public Service.
Image MontenegroPošta Crne Gore still offers telegram service.
Image NetherlandsKPN sold its telegram service to the Swiss-based company Unitel Telegram Services in 2001.
Image PanamaCorreos Panamá still offers telegram service.
Image PortugalCTT Correios de Portugal, S.A. and Altice Portugal still offer telegram services in continental Portugal, the Azores, and Madeira. Normal telegrams are delivered the next day, and urgent telegrams are delivered the same day if handed in before 3pm.[12]
Image RussiaCentral Telegraph (subsidiary of national operator Rostelecom) still offers telegram service. "Regular" or "Urgent" telegrams can be sent to any address in Russia and other countries. So called "Stylish" telegrams printed on artistic postcards are also available.
Image San MarinoPoste San Marino offers telegram service.
Image SerbiaJP Pošta Srbije Beograd, the state-owned postal service, still offers telegram service. It is commonly used to express condolences, official notifications of death or to congratulate anniversaries, births, graduations, etc.[13] Telegrams may be sent by using a special telephone number or directly at the post office. Telegrams are delivered on the same day for recipients in territories covered by post offices with telegram delivery service and are delivered as regular mail for post offices which do not have telegram delivery service. In internal traffic, the length of messages is limited to 800 characters and is charged at a flat rate while in international traffic telegrams are charged by the word. International delivery is possible for recipients in Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia.[14][15]
Image SloveniaPošta Slovenije d.o.o. (Slovenian Post) still provides telegram service commonly used for special occasions such as births, anniversaries, condolences, graduations, etc. It is considered more formal than email or SMS. Telegrams are usually printed in a typewriter font on greeting or condolences cards delivered in a specific yellow envelope. It is also possible to send gifts (e.g. chocolates, wine, plush toys, flowers) together with a message. The telegrams can be sent from local post offices, over the phone or online to addresses in Slovenia only.[16]
Image South AfricaNetwork Telex offer e-telegram service via its chain of E-tel Express storefronts. Telegrams can be sent within South Africa and internationally.
Image SpainCorreos, the state-owned postal service, provides telegraph service for both domestic and international destinations. SEUR (a DPD company) still offers telegram service.
Image TurkeyPTT has been providing telegram service in Turkey since 1855.
Image UruguayAntel, the state-owned postal service, provides telegraph service for both domestic and international destinations. Telegrams can be placed online, by phone, or at a post office.[17]
Image Vatican CityPoste e Filatelia Città del Vaticano provides telegram services to and from the Vatican City State (including the Holy See).[18]

Former service

[edit]
CountryYear service endedComments
Image United Kingdom1982After 1982, British Telecom maintained a telemessage service to replace telegrams. This service was sold to the Swiss-based company Unitel Telegram Services as Telegrams Online in 2003 which has since closed. [19][20]
Image Finland2001Suomen Posti discontinued its international telegram service in January 2001. One can still send domestic messages that look like old-fashioned telegrams but are delivered as ordinary mail or e-mail.
Image Ireland2002Eircom discontinued telegram service on 30 July 2002.[21]
Image Sweden2002Telia discontinued telegram service in 2002.[22]
Image New Zealand2003-2023New Zealand Post discontinued telegram service in 1999. It later reinstated the service in 2003 for use only by business customers, primarily for debt collection or other important business notices.[citation needed] As of 2023 the post office makes no mention of the service, so sometime between 2003 and 2023 this service was likely discontinued.
Image Romania2004Poșta Română discontinued its telegram service in 2004 replacing it with a e-Post service.
Image Bulgaria2005Vivacom stopped telegram service in 2005, although Bulgarian Posts since 2006 offers "Telemail", which allows the sending of short text messages, graphic documents, and hand-written messages from any post office to a fax or teletype machine on Vivacom's network.[23]
Image Pakistan2006Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd discontinued telegram service on 27 January 2006.[24]
Image Lithuania2007Teo LT discontinued telegram service on 15 October 2007.[25]
Image Slovakia2007The Slovak Post discontinued telegram service on 1 January 2007.
Image Thailand2008Thailand Post discontinued telegram service on 30 April 2008, at 20.00 local time.
Image   Nepal2009Nepal Telecom discontinued telegram service on 1 January 2009.[26]
Image Czechia2010Česká pošta discontinued the service in 2010, because it was too expensive to maintain and only 756 telegrams were sent in 2009.[27]
Image Indonesia2010Pos Indonesia discontinued telegram service in 2010.[28]
Image Australia2011Australia Post closed its telegram service on 7 March 2011.
Image Estonia2012Eesti Post discontinued the telegram service in 2012.[29]
Image Malaysia2012Telekom Malaysia discontinued telegram service on 1 July 2012.[30]
Image India2013BSNL discontinued telegram service on 15 July 2013.[31] Telegrams to foreign countries had been discontinued in May 2013.[32][33] Telegrams from other countries can still be received via the postal service.[34][35]
Image Philippines2013The government's Telecommunications Office or Tanggapan ng Telekomunikasyon discontinued telegram service on 20 September 2013. The last telegram was sent on that day at 3:15 PM.[36]
Image Sri Lanka2013Sri Lanka Post stopped its telegram service after 157 years on 30 September 2013, although still offers "Telemail" and "e-Telemail", where customers can deliver an urgent message at the counter or online, respectively, "which is then promptly forwarded to the destination office via direct telephone and delivered to the recipient within two hours."
Image United States2013The FCC ceased enforcing telegram regulations in 2013, and telegraph service was formally deregulated in 2017.[37] Some courier and fax services advertise themselves as "telegrams" but are not in fact distinguishable from fax or registered mail.[38]
Image Belgium2017Proximus discontinued telegram service on 29 December 2017.[39] It sent 63,000 telegrams in 2010,[40] which declined to 8,000 in 2017.
Image Poland2018telegramy.pl offers an online telegram service, delivering telegrams the next day as ordinary mail. Poczta Polska closed its telegram service on 1 October 2018.
Image France2018Orange S.A. closed its telegram service on 30 April 2018.
Image Iceland2018Íslandspóstur discontinued its telegram service on 1 October 2018. The first telegram in Iceland was sent in 1906 to Seyðisfjörður from the Faroe Islands.[41]
Image Ukraine2018Ukrtelecom discontinued telegram service on 1 March 2018.
Image Greece2019OTE, the former state owned telecommunications provider closed the telegram service in March 2019.
Image Hungary2021Magyar Posta closed its telegram service on 29 April 2021[42]
Image Germany2022Deutsche Post offered telegram service until 31 December 2022, delivering telegrams the next day as ordinary mail. Deutsche Telekom discontinued service to foreign countries on 31 December 2000.[43][44]
Image South Korea2023KT Corporation ended their telegram service in December 2023.[45]
Image  Switzerland1999Swisscom discontinued telegram service in 1999 following the breakup of PTT (Switzerland) into two companies: Swisspost and Swisscom.

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ "Barki@tic et Barki@tic Pro - Algérie Poste" (in French). Retrieved 13 February 2025.
  2. ↑ "Телеграф | Белтелеком".
  3. ↑ "Saiba mais - Nacional". Correios (in Brazilian Portuguese). Correios. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  4. ↑ "Brzojav". posta.hr (in Croatian). Hrvatska pošta. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  5. ↑ Stolac, Diana (2005). "Lingvistika tekstnih vrsta, Nada Ivanetić, Uporabni tekstovi (Zavod za lingvistiku Filozofskog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb 2003.)". Fluminensia : Journal for philological research (in Croatian). 17 (1). University of Rijeka, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences: 104. ISSN 0353-4642. Sućut je kratko pisamce ili u posljednje vrijeme sve češće telegram s emocionalnim, ali stereotipiziranim tekstom upućen osobi ili porodici koja je ostala bez bliske osobe.
  6. ↑ سرویس تلکس|شرکت ارتباطات زیرساخت. (Persian). Visited on 13 March 2015 at 7:11:21 PM UTC. Archive link. Translation to English by Google Translate.
  7. ↑ www.israelpost.co.il
  8. ↑ D’Amico, Paola (28 July 2010). "Il postino non suona più il sabato". Corriere della Sera (in Italian).
  9. ↑ R25編集部 (21 April 2008). 【コラム】 メール全盛の現代なのに..."電報"が生き残るワケとは?. R25.jp gooニュース (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 25 April 2008. Retrieved 15 May 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ↑ "国際電報" (in Japanese). Retrieved 7 May 2026.
  11. ↑ "Telecomunicaciones de México". telecomm.net.mx. Archived from the original on 18 October 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  12. ↑ "Serviços de proximidade nas Lojas CTT".
  13. ↑ Gogić, Milja (1 March 2024). "Slanje telegrama i pored mobilnih telefona nije postalo istorija". Radio Television of Serbia (in Serbian). Najčešći povodi su i radosne i lepe vesti, kao i neke tužne, kao izjave saučešća.
  14. ↑ "Telegram - Srbija". Javno preduzeće "Pošta Srbije" Beograd. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  15. ↑ "Telegram - Inostranstvo". Javno preduzeće "Pošta Srbije" Beograd. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  16. ↑ "Pošta Slovenije - Obvestilo". posta.si.
  17. ↑ "Telegramas". antel.com.uy. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  18. ↑ "Postal Services - Services and Rates". Vatican City State. 17 September 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
  19. ↑ "Edward Prince of Wales visits London's telegram boys", The Telegraph, 9 June 2017, archived 4 March 2019.
  20. ↑ "Unitel Telegram Services; Efficiency in Telegraphy". www.uniteltelegram.com. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  21. ↑ "Details of Eircom Services" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  22. ↑ Edling, Lotta (28 February 2002). "Telia lägger ned telegramverksamheten". Affärsvärlden. Archived from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  23. ↑ "ЦЕНИ ЗА УСЛУГАТА "ТЕЛЕПОЩА"". bgpost. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  24. ↑ Dilawar Hussain (15 July 2013). "Indian telegram service end of a memorable era". dawn.com.
  25. ↑ "Nebeliks telegramų paslaugos - Ekonomika - Klaipėda". Klaipeda.diena.lt. 25 September 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  26. ↑ "Telecom Notices". ntc.net.np. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  27. ↑ "Telegramy na České poště po 160 letech končí". Česká pošta. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  28. ↑ "Telegram Riwayatmu Kini". 18 June 2012.
  29. ↑ Aotäht, Aivar (25 May 2017). "Vanasti populaarne telegramm elab edasi vaid mälestustes". DIGAR Eesti artiklid (in Estonian). Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  30. ↑ "The last telegram - Editorial". New Straits Times. 5 July 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  31. ↑ "End of an era: BSNL to shut telegraph services from 15 July". Firstpost India. 12 June 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  32. ↑ "BSNL decides to discontinue 160-year-old telegram service". The Times of India. 12 June 2013. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  33. ↑ Vij, Shivam (14 June 2013). "India to end state-run telegram service. Stop". Christian Science Monitor.
  34. ↑ "Myths about telegrams". International Telegram.
  35. ↑ Gallagher, Sean (19 June 2013). "TELEGRAM NOT DEAD. STOP". Ars Technica.
  36. ↑ "END OF AN ERA|The last telegram sent in the Philippines" Archived 7 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine 5 October 2013
  37. ↑ Shepardson, David (19 October 2017). "U.S. agency scraps unused telegraph regulations in Trump rules purge". Reuters.
  38. ↑ LaFrance, Adrienne (5 February 2016). "A Surprise Twist in the Mystery of the Lost Telegrams". The Atlantic.
  39. ↑ Proximus: Proximus ends the telegram after over 150 years of good, loyal service Archived 28 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
  40. ↑ "63.000 telegrammen verstuurd in 2010", De Standaard, 16 August 2011.
  41. ↑ "Rúmlega 100 ára saga skeytasendinga á enda". October 2018.
  42. ↑ "174 év után megszűnik a távirat" (in Hungarian). Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  43. ↑ Tariftip.de (2 September 2000). "Deutsche Telekom stellt Auslands-Telegramme ein" (in German). Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  44. ↑ Heise online (1 September 2000). "Internet und Handys bereiten Auslandstelegrammen den Garaus" (in German). Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  45. ↑ "KT to end domestic telegram service next month after 138 years". Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
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