The PTT: Public Service Innovation

The merger of postal and telecommunications services into the PTT (Postes, Télégraphes et Téléphones) in 1889 created a unique institution. Unlike countries that separated mail and electronic communications, France integrated them under a philosophy of universal service. Every citizen, whether in Paris or a remote Alpine village, deserved access to modern communications.

This public service ethos drove remarkable innovations. The pneumatic post (pneumatique), operating in Paris from 1866 to 1984, used compressed air to shoot message capsules through underground tubes at 35 km/h. By its peak in the 1930s, the system had 467 kilometers of tubes handling 30 million messages annually. While other cities abandoned pneumatic post as obsolete, Paris maintained and modernized it, demonstrating French commitment to proven technologies.

The PTT's research laboratories pioneered numerous advances. French engineers developed time-division multiplexing, allowing multiple telephone conversations on a single line. The E10 digital telephone switch, introduced in 1970, was among the world's first fully electronic systems. These innovations emerged not from competition but from the methodical work of public servants seeking to improve national infrastructure.