... for long-distance transmission of news are replaced within the 19th century by public postal systems. For political and military needs there is a parallel development of long-distance telegraphy, initially by optical means.

With his pointer telegraph, which translates symbols into electrical pulses, Werner Siemens wins the contract in 1848 to build the telegraphy line Berlin-Frankfort on the Main, the headquarter of the German National Assembly. At the emperor election in 1849, the message reaches Berlin within one hour - a sensation!

At the end of the 1870th, the telephone enters into competition with the telegraph and eventually supersedes it, after the range of telephony is substantially increased by use of Michael Pupin's amplifying self-induction coils (Figure: Insertion of a Pupin coil near Baumgartenbrück; Siemens Archive).