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The Telephones Portal

A rotary dial telephone, c. 1940s

A telephone, commonly shortened to phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into electronic signals that are transmitted via cables and other communication channels to another telephone which reproduces the sound to the receiving user. The term is derived from Ancient Greek: τῆλε, romanized: tēle, lit. 'far' and φωνή (phōnē, voice), together meaning distant voice.

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was the first to be granted a United States patent for a device that produced clearly intelligible replication of the human voice at a second device. This instrument was further developed by many others, and became rapidly indispensable in business, government, and in households. (Full article...)

The Samsung Galaxy Z series are foldable smartphones.

A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable wireless telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones (landline phones). This radio frequency link connects to the switching systems of a mobile phone operator, providing access to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Modern mobile telephony relies on a cellular network architecture, which is why mobile phones are often referred to as 'cell phones' in North America. (Full article...)

A smartphone is a mobile device that combines the functionality of a traditional mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multimedia playback and streaming. Smartphones have built-in cameras, GPS navigation, and support for various communication methods, including voice calls, text messaging, and internet-based messaging apps. Smartphones are distinguished from older-design feature phones by their more advanced hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, access to the internet, business applications, mobile payments, and multimedia functionality, including music, video, gaming, radio, and television. (Full article...)

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The telephone booth, November 2012

The Prairie Grove Airlight Outdoor Telephone Booth is a telephone booth installed at the southwest corner of East Douglas and Parker Streets in Prairie Grove, Arkansas, United States. It is an early example of the Airlight, the first American mass-produced weather-resistant metal telephone booth, which made possible widespread installation of outdoor payphones. In 2015, it became the first phone booth on the National Register of Historic Places. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Telephony Telephone numbering plan Invention of the telephone Comparison of smartphones List of Android smartphones History of the telephone Dual-tone multi-frequency signaling Rotary dial Telephone switchboard Switchboard operator Direct distance dialing Signalling System No. 7 Telephone exchange Toll-free telephone number Call forwarding Cellular network Public switched telephone network Collect call Texting while driving Verizon New England 9-1-1 Enhanced 9-1-1 Phone surveillance Bell System Bell Telephone Company AT&T Corporation Telephone keypad Phone hacking Landline Wide Area Telephone Service Answering machine Telephone exchange names Caller ID Telephone tapping Mobile phone tracking Mobile device forensics Plain old telephone service History of mobile phones Prepaid mobile phone Mobile phone use in schools Motorola DynaTAC Motorola StarTAC Breakup of the Bell System Verizon (mobile network) T-Mobile Problematic smartphone use Telefon Hírmondó Telephone newspaper Pocket dialing Model 102 telephone Telephone number Push-button telephone Phreaking Western Electric Voice over IP Phoneword Bell Memorial Alexander Graham Bell honors and tributes Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site Bell Canada Business telephone system The Telephone Cases Hotline Premium-rate telephone number Dirtbox (cell phone) Text messaging 300-page iPhone bill Cell site Voicemail iOS Tip and ring Phubbing Yellow pages Telephone booth Smartphone zombie Mobile phones and driving safety Qualcomm Snapdragon Project Ara Motorola Mobility Android (operating system) iPhone 6 Missed call Samsung Galaxy S4 LG G2 TouchWave iPhone 5 Police box Red telephone box Call centre Robocall National Do Not Call Registry Telephone Preference Service National Do Not Call List Telemarketing KX telephone boxes Mojave phone booth Modem Fax Harmonised service of social value Telephone counseling Crisis hotline Caller ID spoofing

Types of phones - show another

Grillo telephone designed by Richard Sapper and Marco Zanuso

The Grillo telephone is a 1960s flip-phone telephone from Italy. It was designed by Richard Sapper and Marco Zanuso, and manufactured by Siemens for Italtel. Introduced in 1966, the "Grillo" remained in production until 1979, and was a popular and iconic symbol of 1960s Italian design. (Full article...)

List of phone types
Payphone Courtesy telephone Emergency telephone Secure telephone Smartphone Mobile phone Satellite phone Phablet Car phone Windows Phone Camera phone Feature phone VoIP phone iPhone Tin can telephone Sound-powered telephone Golden telephone Reis telephone Cordless telephone Shoe phone Field telephone IBM Simon Mobile radio telephone Foldable smartphone Modular smartphone Prepaid mobile phone

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The TeleZapper is a device designed to reduce the number of telemarketing-related phone calls a household receives by imitating the tone signal normally played by a phone company to indicate a line has been disconnected. The Telezapper was created by Privacy Technologies. (Full article...)

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List articles

• Comparison of smartphones
• List of best-selling mobile phones
• List of countries by number of broadband Internet subscriptions
• List of countries by number of telephone lines in use
• List of countries by smartphone penetration
• List of country calling codes
• List of iPhone models
• List of mobile network operators
• List of mobile phone brands by country
• List of mobile phone generations
• List of telecommunications companies

Related portals

General images - show new batch

The following are images from various telephone-related articles on Wikipedia.

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  Image 1The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 7, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 2Reis's telephone around 1861, first device called telephone (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 3Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 4A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 5A sign along Bellaire Boulevard in Southside Place, Texas (Greater Houston) states that using mobile phones while driving is prohibited from 7:30 am to 9:00 am and from 2:00 pm to 4:15 pm. (from Smartphone)
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  Image 6

  Bell prototype telephone stamp
  Centennial Issue of 1976

  (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 7Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 8Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
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  Image 9A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
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  Image 10Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
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  Image 11A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
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  Image 12Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 13Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
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  Image 14Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)
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  Image 15Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
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  Image 161917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 17Martin Cooper of Motorola, shown here in a 2007 reenactment, made the first publicized handheld mobile phone call on a prototype DynaTAC model on 3 April 1973. (from Mobile phone)
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  Image 18A Nexus 6, an Android smartphone, displaying the Main Page of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)
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  Image 19Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 20Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 21Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 22The HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with optical trackpad and search button (from Smartphone)
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  Image 23A sign in the US restricting cell phone use to certain times of day (no cell phone use between 7:30–9:00 am and 2:00–4:15 pm) (from Mobile phone)
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  Image 24Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
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  Image 25Tooltip in Kiwi Browser, a Google Chromium derivative, reveals the full URL by hovering over the tab list using the stylus on a Samsung Galaxy Note 4. (from Smartphone)
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  Image 26Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
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  Image 27A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
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  Image 28A German rotary dial telephone, the W48 (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 29Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 30A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
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  Image 31Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
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  Image 32A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 33Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 34Blackview A60 Andoid Go mobile phone smartphone cell phone showing the front-facing camera is put in notch display (from Smartphone)
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  Image 35Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 36Innocenzo Manzetti considered the idea of a telephone in 1844 (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 37Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
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  Image 38A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
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  Image 39People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
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  Image 40Actor portraying Alexander Graham Bell in a 1932 silent film. Shows Bell's second telephone transmitter (microphone), invented 1876 and first displayed at the Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia. (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 41A high-capacity portable battery charger (power bank) (from Smartphone)
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  Image 42Antonio Meucci, 1849, developing a voice-communication apparatus that several sources credit as the first telephone. (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 43Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
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  Image 441896 telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 45The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has an artificial intelligence-powered feature (from Smartphone)
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  Image 46"Device options" menu of Samsung Mobile's TouchWiz user interface as of 2013, accessed by holding the power button for a second (from Smartphone)
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  Image 47Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1–f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
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  Image 48Replica of the telettrofono at Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci of Milan, Italy, invented by Antonio Meucci and credited by several sources as the first telephone. (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 49Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
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  Image 50Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
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  Image 51Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
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  Image 52The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
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  Image 53Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
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  Image 54E-waste in Agbogbloshie (from Smartphone)

Selected biography

"A shirt pocket phone to call anyone in the world, at any time" - George Harry Sweigert, The Plain Dealer (June 1966)

George H. Sweigert (1920–1999) is credited as the first inventor to patent the cordless telephone.

Born in Akron, Ohio, Sweigert served five years in the US Army as a radio operator in World War II in Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Fiji and New Georgia assigned to the 145th Headquarters Company under the 37th Infantry Division (United States). Following the war, Sweigert attended Bowling Green State University near Toledo, Ohio.

Sweigert credited his military experience for invention of the cordless telephone, citing experimentation with various antennas, signal frequencies, and types of radios. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies
Alexander Graham Bell Thomas Edison Innocenzo Manzetti Charles Bourseul Johann Philipp Reis Antonio Meucci Tivadar Puskás Douglas H. Ring W. Rae Young Martin Cooper (inventor) Thomas Cowherd Gardiner Greene Hubbard Anthony Pollok Thomas A. Watson Elisha Gray Pat Fleet John Draper

Selected images

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  Image 1Historical telephone with the German imperial eagle and the heraldic shield of the House of Hohenzollern dynasty; Vollmer's Mill, Seebach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
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  Image 2Acoustic telephone ad, The Consolidated Telephone Co., Jersey City, New Jersey, 1886
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  Image 3Track-side emergency brake and emergency telephones at the platform of the metro station Aspern Nord, Donaustadt, Vienna, Austria
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  Image 4Foldable smartphones
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  Image 5A historic telephone booth in Skansen, Stockholm
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  Image 6An example of a K6, the most common red telephone box model, photographed in London in 2012
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  Image 7A police box outside Earl's Court tube station in London, built in 1996 and based on the 1929 Gilbert Mackenzie Trench design
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  Image 8Push-button telephone
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  Image 9Photograph of the interior of the Prairie Grove Airlight Outdoor Telephone Booth in Prairie Grove, Arkansas, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
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  Image 10A traditional North American rotary phone dial. The associative lettering was originally used for dialing named exchanges but was kept because it facilitated memorization of telephone numbers.
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  Image 11Public telephone, Bucharest, Romania
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  Image 12Automatic electric Rotary dial telephone
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  Image 13Landline call blocking in use
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  Image 14Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
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  Image 15Mailbox and public telephone in Haßfurt, Germany
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  Image 16A Northern Electric telephone, model number N415H, circa 1950 (probably)
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  Image 17A Funke + Huster telephone inside the Idrija Mine, Slovenia
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  Image 18A Bell Canada payphone with digital display
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  Image 19The AUTOVON was a worldwide American military telephone system that was built starting in 1963.
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  Image 20A cordless phone
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  Image 21Emergency telephones, on the Paris-Bordeaux railway line, Saint-Saviol station, Vienne, France
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  Image 22Apple iPhones
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  Image 23Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
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  Image 24Wooden wall telephone with a hand-cranked magneto generator
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  Image 25Telephone booth box art outside the Tower of London, 2012
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  Image 26Android smartphones
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  Image 27A Western Electric candlestick phone from the 1920s
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  Image 28An Italian gettone telefonico (telephone token) from 1945, which was used in Italian phone booths

Topics

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Telephony

Telecommunications systems

Bulletin board systems

Call centre

Call recording

Telephone crimes

Digital subscriber line

Telephony equipment

Telephone exchanges

Fixed mobile convergence

History of the telephone

Information by telephone

Voice over IP

Local loop

Modems

Telephone numbers

Telephony in popular culture

Privacy of telecommunications

Secure communication

Telephone services

Telephony signals

Telephony software

Telemarketing

Telephone voiceover talent

Telephony stubs

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Mobile phones

Mobile phones by company

Active noise control mobile phones

Mobile telephone broadcasting

Mobile phone companies

Mobile phone culture

History of mobile phones

Mobile phone industry

Lists of mobile phones

Mobile device management

Mobile device accessory companies

Mobile phones with 4K video recording

Mobile phones with 8K video recording

Mobile phones with an integrated hardware keyboard

Mobile phones with infrared transmitter

Mobile phones with mechanical zoom lens

Mobile phones with pressure-sensitive touch screen

Mobile phones with self-capacitive touch screen layer

Mobile phones with stylus

Mobile phones with user-replaceable battery

Mobile phones with multiple rear cameras

Open-source mobile phones

Mobile phone recycling

Mobile phones by shape

Smartphones

Mobile software

Solar-powered mobile phones

Mobile phone standards

Mobile phones with stereo camera

Watch phones

Works about mobile phones

Mobile phones by year of introduction

Mobile phone stubs

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Smartphones

Smartphones by brand

Smartphones by operating system

CyanogenMod

Discontinued smartphones

Flagship smartphones

Foldable smartphones

Mobile software

Modular smartphones

MyTouch

N-Gage (service) compatible devices

Phablets

S60 (software platform)

Smartphone operating systems

Smartphone patent wars

Videotelephony

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Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Stubs : E x p a n d  telephone stub articles: Telephony stubs • Mobile phone stubs • Telephone number stubs

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Telephones in the news

1 December 2025 – Mass surveillance in India

India's Ministry of Communications orders smartphone manufacturers to pre-install Sanchar Saathi, a government-run cybersecurity app on all new devices within 90 days and to push the app onto older models through a software update. The ministry says the app is essential in "curbing misuse of telecom resources for cyber frauds and ensuring telecom cyber security". (AP)

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