Store Nordiske Telegrafselskab A/S

Introduction

The Store Nordiske Telegrafselskab A/S (a.k.a. "The Great Northern Telegraph Company" in English) is the SR's telecommunications company. It has since 1868 connected people through communication systems. It still maintains cable and telegraph activities in the North Sea, the Baltic, and the Far East. Today it is also a global leader in personal communications systems; headsets, hearing aids, and audiological instruments. It is currently working with the TSRC to build telecommunications satellites.

Flag of the Store Nordiske Telegrafselskab A/S

http://www.geocities.com/flagsofillbethisad/sr-snts.gif

Since the Store Nordiske Telegrafselskab A/S has cable ships for laying out and maintaining undersea cables, it has the right to fly its own Dannebrog flag.

History

The Dane, C. F. Tietgen, established the Store Nordiske Telegrafselskab A/S in 1868 to connect the Scandinavian Realm, the Federated Kingdoms and Russia. The first projects were to lay the following cables: England - Denmark, Denmark - Norway, and Sweden - Russia.

One of the schemes put forward after the failure of the Atlantic cables was an overland line through Russia, a short cable across the Bering Strait and a landline through what was then Russian America (Alyaska) to link up with the American domestic networks. However, the success of the 1865-6 Atlantic cables made the scheme obsolete and it was abandoned in 1868 by mutual consent. The Russians terminated their overland line at Vladivostock and then asked for tenders to lay cables to connect Russia with China, Japan, and Hong Kong. The Store Nordiske Telegrafselskab A/S won the contract.

The company has since been responsible for laying out and maintaining cables in the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and the Far East. In periods, it even took care of parts of the Scandinavian foreign policy towards Russia.

After the end of the Second Great War the directors decided to diversify, and using the reserves built up during the early years of the company, shares were bought in a number of companies, some of which later became wholly owned subsidiaries. Some companies were taken over completely and after a shaky start this proved very successful. This scheme continued and eventually non-telegraphic activities in the form of telecommunications and personal communications systems became the main source of profits for the company. It is currently involved with the TSRC to produce telecommunications satellites.

[NOTE: The Store Nordiske Telegrafselskab is basically, *there's* version of GN Stor Nord A/S, but with a slightly divergent history].