Worldwide use of telegrams by country
List of telegram services by country
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of telegram services by country.
Current service
| Country | Comments |
|---|---|
 Algeria | Algérie Poste offers telegram services under the name Barki@tic.[1] |
 Argentina | Correo Argentino still offers telegram service within Argentina and to international destinations. |
 Aruba | Post Aruba still offers telegram service. |
 Austria | telegramm.at offers telegram service. |
 Azerbaijan | Telegrams can be sent at offices of Azərpoçt. |
 Bahrain | Batelco still offers telegram service. Telegrams are sent for deaths or important occasions as they are thought to be more formal than email or fax, but less so than a letter. |
 Belarus | Beltelecom offers a service for the transmission of telegrams within the country and around the world. "Ordinary" and "urgent", "certified" and "government" telegrams can be sent to any address in Belarus and other countries.[2] There is also a service for sending Lux (=LX) (on a greeting card) and Deluxe (=LXDEUIL) (funeral card) telegrams to Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. Telegrams in Belarus are delivered within 224 hours. |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina | Hrvatska pošta Mostar, BH Pošta, and Pošte Srpske offer telegram services. |
 Brazil | Correios still offers telegram service, only within the country. Telegrams can be sent from any post office, by telephone and by the Internet.[3] |
 Canada | Telegrams Canada still offers telegram service. AT&T Canada (previously CNCP Telecommunications) had discontinued its telegram service in 2001 and later became MTS Allstream. |
 China | As of 2025[update], China Unicom still offers public telegram sending from Beijing to Beijing, Guangzhou, Jinan, Shijiazhuang and Hefei. |
 Colombia | As of 2015[update], 4-72 still offered telegram service. |
 Costa Rica | Correos de Costa Rica still offers telegram service. |
 Croatia | Hrvatska pošta still offers telegram service. Telegrams may be sent via the Internet, telephone or fax, and are optionally deliverable by telephone or fax. Illustrated and musical telegrams are available for special occasions.[4] It's often used to send condolences.[5] |
 Cuba | Correos de Cuba still offers telegram service. |
 Iran | Telecommunication Infrastructure Company of I.R.Iran still offers telegram service.[6] |
 Israel | Israel Postal Company still offers telegram service. Telegrams may be sent via the Internet or by a telephone operator. Illustrated telegrams are available for special occasions.[7] |
 Italy | Poste Italiane still offers telegram service. As of 2010[update] around 12.5 million telegrams were sent annually, and telegrams are considered the standard way to offer condolences.[8] |
 Japan | NTT and KDDI still offer domestic telegram service. Telegrams are used mainly for special occasions such as weddings, funerals, graduations, etc.[9] Local offices offer telegrams printed on special decorated paper and envelopes. International service was discontinued on 31 March 2026.[10] |
 Jordan | Jordan Post Company still offers telegram service. |
 Kuwait | The Ministry of Communications maintains a local and international telegram service. A form must be filled out, and along with a copy of one's civil ID, must be delivered in person. |
 Latvia | Latvijas pasts offers telegram service transmitted with a special computer network between post offices. |
 Mauritius | Mauritius Post maintains a domestic telegram service. |
 Myanmar | As of 2014[update], MPT still offers a domestic telegram service. |
 Mexico | Telmex still offers telegram service as a low-cost service for people who cannot afford or do not have access to e-mail, under the name of 'telegraficos telegrama'.[11] |
 Monaco | The Monaco Post Office still offers telegram service according the website of the Monaco Public Service. |
 Montenegro | Pošta Crne Gore still offers telegram service. |
 Netherlands | KPN sold its telegram service to the Swiss-based company Unitel Telegram Services in 2001. |
 Panama | Correos Panamá still offers telegram service. |
 Portugal | CTT Correios de Portugal, S.A. and Altice Portugal still offer telegram services in continental Portugal, the Azores, and Madeira. Normal telegrams are delivered the next day, and urgent telegrams are delivered the same day if handed in before 3pm.[12] |
 Russia | Central Telegraph (subsidiary of national operator Rostelecom) still offers telegram service. "Regular" or "Urgent" telegrams can be sent to any address in Russia and other countries. So called "Stylish" telegrams printed on artistic postcards are also available. |
 San Marino | Poste San Marino offers telegram service. |
 Serbia | JP Pošta Srbije Beograd, the state-owned postal service, still offers telegram service. It is commonly used to express condolences, official notifications of death or to congratulate anniversaries, births, graduations, etc.[13] Telegrams may be sent by using a special telephone number or directly at the post office. Telegrams are delivered on the same day for recipients in territories covered by post offices with telegram delivery service and are delivered as regular mail for post offices which do not have telegram delivery service. In internal traffic, the length of messages is limited to 800 characters and is charged at a flat rate while in international traffic telegrams are charged by the word. International delivery is possible for recipients in Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia.[14][15] |
 Slovenia | Pošta Slovenije d.o.o. (Slovenian Post) still provides telegram service commonly used for special occasions such as births, anniversaries, condolences, graduations, etc. It is considered more formal than email or SMS. Telegrams are usually printed in a typewriter font on greeting or condolences cards delivered in a specific yellow envelope. It is also possible to send gifts (e.g. chocolates, wine, plush toys, flowers) together with a message. The telegrams can be sent from local post offices, over the phone or online to addresses in Slovenia only.[16] |
 South Africa | Network Telex offer e-telegram service via its chain of E-tel Express storefronts. Telegrams can be sent within South Africa and internationally. |
 Spain | Correos, the state-owned postal service, provides telegraph service for both domestic and international destinations. SEUR (a DPD company) still offers telegram service. |
 Switzerland | Unitel Telegram Services took over telegram service from the national PTTs. Telegrams can still be sent to and from most countries. |
 Turkey | PTT has been providing telegram service in Turkey since 1855. |
 United States | International Telegram company Took over telegram service from Western Union on 27 January 2006.[17] Telegrams can be sent via their web site.[18][19][20] |
 Uruguay | Antel, the state-owned postal service, provides telegraph service for both domestic and international destinations. Telegrams can be placed online, by phone, or at a post office.[21] |
 Vatican City | Poste e Filatelia Città del Vaticano provides telegram services to and from the Vatican City State (including the Holy See).[22] |
Former service
| Country | Year service ended | Comments |
|---|---|---|
 United Kingdom | 1982 | After 1982, British Telecom maintained a telemessage service to replace telegrams. This service was sold to the Swiss-based company Unitel Telegram Services as Telegrams Online in 2003 which has since closed. [23][24] |
 Finland | 2001 | Suomen Posti discontinued its international telegram service in January 2001. One can still send domestic messages that look like old-fashioned telegrams but are delivered as ordinary mail or e-mail. |
 Ireland | 2002 | Eircom discontinued telegram service on 30 July 2002.[25] |
 Sweden | 2002 | Telia discontinued telegram service in 2002.[26] |
 New Zealand | 2003-2023 | New Zealand Post discontinued telegram service in 1999. It later reinstated the service in 2003 for use only by business customers, primarily for debt collection or other important business notices.[citation needed] As of 2023[update] the post office makes no mention of the service, so sometime between 2003 and 2023 this service was likely discontinued. |
 Romania | 2004 | Poșta Română discontinued its telegram service in 2004 replacing it with a e-Post service. |
 Bulgaria | 2005 | Vivacom stopped telegram service in 2005, although Bulgarian Posts since 2006 offers "Telemail", which allows the sending of short text messages, graphic documents, and hand-written messages from any post office to a fax or teletype machine on Vivacom's network.[27] |
 Pakistan | 2006 | Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd discontinued telegram service on 27 January 2006.[28] |
 Lithuania | 2007 | Teo LT discontinued telegram service on 15 October 2007.[29] |
 Slovakia | 2007 | The Slovak Post discontinued telegram service on 1 January 2007. |
 Thailand | 2008 | Thailand Post discontinued telegram service on 30 April 2008, at 20.00 local time. |
 Nepal | 2009 | Nepal Telecom discontinued telegram service on 1 January 2009.[30] |
 Czechia | 2010 | Česká pošta discontinued the service in 2010, because it was too expensive to maintain and only 756 telegrams were sent in 2009.[31] |
 Indonesia | 2010 | Pos Indonesia discontinued telegram service in 2010.[32] |
 Australia | 2011 | Australia Post closed its telegram service on 7 March 2011. |
 Estonia | 2012 | Eesti Post discontinued the telegram service in 2012.[33] |
 Malaysia | 2012 | Telekom Malaysia discontinued telegram service on 1 July 2012.[34] |
 India | 2013 | BSNL discontinued telegram service on 15 July 2013.[35] Telegrams to foreign countries had been discontinued in May 2013.[36][37] Telegrams from other countries can still be received via the postal service.[38][39] |
 Philippines | 2013 | The government's Telecommunications Office or Tanggapan ng Telekomunikasyon discontinued telegram service on 20 September 2013. The last telegram was sent on that day at 3:15 PM.[40] |
 Sri Lanka | 2013 | Sri Lanka Post stopped its telegram service after 157 years on 30 September 2013, although still offers "Telemail" and "e-Telemail", where customers can deliver an urgent message at the counter or online, respectively, "which is then promptly forwarded to the destination office via direct telephone and delivered to the recipient within two hours." |
 Belgium | 2017 | Proximus discontinued telegram service on 29 December 2017.[41] It sent 63,000 telegrams in 2010,[42] which declined to 8,000 in 2017. |
 Poland | 2018 | telegramy.pl offers an online telegram service, delivering telegrams the next day as ordinary mail. Poczta Polska closed its telegram service on 1 October 2018. |
 France | 2018 | Orange S.A. closed its telegram service on 30 April 2018. |
 Iceland | 2018 | Íslandspóstur discontinued its telegram service on 1 October 2018. The first telegram in Iceland was sent in 1906 to Seyðisfjörður from the Faroe Islands.[43] |
 Ukraine | 2018 | Ukrtelecom discontinued telegram service on 1 March 2018. |
 Greece | 2019 | OTE, the former state owned telecommunications provider closed the telegram service in March 2019. |
 Hungary | 2021 | Magyar Posta closed its telegram service on 29 April 2021[44] |
 Germany | 2022 | Deutsche Post offered telegram service until 31 December 2022, delivering telegrams the next day as ordinary mail. Deutsche Telekom discontinued service to foreign countries on 31 December 2000.[45][46] |
 South Korea | 2023 | KT Corporation ended their telegram service in December 2023.[47] |