 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 1925 |
| Defunct | 1991 |
| Fate | Acquired |
| Successor | Nortel |
| Headquarters | London, UK |
Key people | SirKenneth Corfield (chairman) |
Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd (laterSTCplc) was a British manufacturer of telephone, telegraph, radio, telecommunications, and related equipment. During its history, STC invented and developed several groundbreaking new technologies includingpulse-code modulation (PCM) andoptical fibres.
The company was founded in 1883 in London as International Western Electric bythe Western Electric Company, shortly after Western Electric became the telephone equipment supplier forthe American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in the United States. In 1925, Western Electric divested itself of all foreign operations and sold International Western Electric toInternational Telephone and Telegraph (ITT), in part to thwart antitrust actions by the American government.[1] In mid-1982, STC became an independent company and was listed on theLondon Stock Exchange; for a time it was a constituent of theFTSE 100 Index. It was bought byNortel in 1991.
The company was established in 1883 as an agent forWestern Electric, which also had a factory inAntwerp, Belgium. The London operation sold US-designed telephones and exchanges to fledgling British telephone companies. Because of the costs of importing products, the company purchased a failingelectrical cable factory atNorth Woolwich in London, in 1898. In addition to making lead-sheathed cables, the factory started assembling equipment from components imported from Belgium and the US, and subsequently introduced manufacturing. The company wasincorporated as a British legal entity in 1910.[2]
World War I brought its progress to a sudden halt. The company contributed to the war effort in military communications with its cable andwireless technologies. With radio technology rapidly developing in the USA after the war, Western Electric had an advantage whenradio broadcasting was introduced in Britain. As well as manufacturing radio receivers, the company, in aconsortium with its competitors, set up theBritish Broadcasting Company (BBC) in 1922.Electron tube technology was commercially exploited.
In 1925, Western Electric sold off its international operations, as well as the general electrical equipment merchandizing operations. The buyer of the international operations was the infantITT Corporation, founded bySosthenes Behn less than ten years previously with an aggressive and thrusting reputation. To fit with its other worldwide operations, ITT renamed its new UK operationStandard Telephones and Cables, its name implying a standard against which others would be measured. The new organization employed entrepreneurial risk taking, based on solid research and brave innovation.[citation needed]
In 1933, Brimar was established to manufacture American-patternelectron tubes atFoots Cray, adjacent to theKolster-Brandes factory.[3]
Within a few years, multi-channeltransmission (1932),microwave transmission (1934),coaxial cabling (1936), the entire radio systems for the linersQueen Mary andQueen Elizabeth (1936–39), the patenting ofpulse-code modulation (1938) all contributed to the hey-day oftelephony's development.
Between 1939 and 1945, significant military work was undertaken with many developments particularly with regard toaerial warfare: communications,radar,navigational aids, and especiallyOBOE
The 1950s were characterised by the establishment oftelevision broadcasting. Technical milestones were numerous and were crowned by the coverage ofQueen Elizabeth II'sCoronation in 1953. The steady spread of TV transmission and availability over Britain very often used STC technology and equipment.
In other areas, ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore and civil aviation communications took on modern characteristics with STC's products. In time, international and intercontinental submarine telephone contact became possible, feasible and then everyday. Questions of product and installation quality and absolute reliability were overcome and STC became a major player with its production unit in Southampton opened in 1956. Coverage graduated from rivers, estuaries, theEnglish Channel, theNorth Sea, theAtlantic to thePacific Oceans. STC became the world leader in this field after acquiring Submarine Cables Ltd in 1970.[4]
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, STC also supplied signalbox train describer equipment toBritish Railways;[5] for the 1949 installation ofpower signalling in the North and South boxes atDoncaster, STC also provided route setting panels for control of points and signals, using a novel "sequential switch interlocking" format based around telephone exchange switching technology.[6]
Digital technology began to supplantanalogue withBell's invention oftransistors. STC's first PCM link in 1964 had waited nearly 30 years for material technology to make it work.
In 1966,Charles Kao of STC'sStandard Telecommunication Laboratories inHarlow demonstrated that light rather than electricity could be used to transmit speech and (more importantly) data accurately at very high speeds.[7] Again materials technology took time to catch up, but by 1977 a commercialfibre optic link had been installed in England. Within ten yearsBT abandoned metal cables except at the subscriber's premises. Before STC's demise, its plant at Wednesbury Street,Newport came to dominate the recabling of the UK public telephone system.
In telephone switching apparatus, STC (New Southgate) was also a major player. In 1971 the company installed a fully digital (PCM) controlled telephone exchange atMoorgate in the City of London.[8] It was a tandem exchange, switchingPCM multiplexes between several other exchanges. Until 1980, STC'sTXE4 analogue electronic switch was an early replacement for electro-mechanical systems.[9] Before a politically engineered withdrawal in 1982, STC and its (now equally defunct) partnersPlessey andGEC, developed the fully digitalSystem X switch which is still in service in the UK as of 2005.[10]
ITT Corporation needed to raise cash to fund continued development of itsSystem 12 telephone switching system[11] and sold off all but a minority shareholding of STC between 1979 and 1982.[12]
With developments in computer technology influencing and stimulating telecoms, thebuzzword of the late 1980s became "convergence". An attempt to enter themainframe computer market with the takeover ofICL led to financial strains. The rationale was the convergence of computing and telecoms but the vision was too early. Almost immediately, STC had financial problems and ICL was ring-fenced to preserve it as a profit centre. By 1991, with an ageing workforce, loss of business from the newly privatised BT, production spread over too many expensive sites and no clear leadership succession to its former chairman,Sir Kenneth Corfield, STC was bought by Canadian company Northern Telecom (Nortel).[13][14]
The company was based in the United Kingdom but also had an operation in Australia, which was acquired byAlcatel Australia in 1987.[15]
• Peter Young, 1983,Power of Speech: A History of Standard Telephones and Cables 1883-1983,George Allen & Unwin;.ISBN 0043820395 (London, UK)
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