History of the Videophone: Testing and Development in the 1970s

In February 1973, the so-called videophone was ready for extensive testing in the Netherlands. In September, the PTT and Philips started a test network. Fifty registrants were linked and followed for two years.

The video phone on a desk was a wonderful status symbol, but according to D. van den Berg of the PTT it would also be very expensive. It would cost ten to fifty times more than just making a phone. He also said that he did not expect that a video telephone network could be used in the Netherlands before 1980.

Van den Berg based his report on similar experiments that began in 1970 in the American city of Pittsburgh. Bell Telephone & Telegraph had connected eighty companies to an experimental network. It showed that subscription was not less than 160 dollars per month per connection, plus another 1.60 dollars per minute while calling.

A trial link has also been established between several post offices in London and Birmingham in England. Television sets were set up in spacious cells and with the help of microphones, loudspeakers and of course telephone lines, people were able to talk to each other but also show each other materials or documents.

Until the beginning of 1973, both PTT and Philips had spent about a million guilders on the development of the videophone. There had been talk since 1968 that this experiment would begin, but it had not happened before. The statement came from the PTT. Only by adding four telephone wires instead of two and by using different, additional sleeves and changing the telephone exchange, was it possible to start the experiment.

Although, as a government company, the PTT was reluctant to introduce the videophone nationwide due to the very high costs. Ir. Van den Berg said people were committed to mastering the technique as a result of these tests. He saw a great advantage, that thanks to the videophone, it would be possible to travel much less in the future, for example to attend meetings.

Hans Knot
Image above: Image & Sound