In 1854, a telegraph message consisting of 16 words was transmitted from Kolkata to Bengaluru. The transaction was billed at a rate of 10 shillings, reflecting the commercial pricing of the era’s telegraph services.
This instance illustrates the nascent state of long‑distance communication infrastructure in colonial India, where messages between major cities incurred notable expenses.
While specific details of the message content are not recorded in the available sources, the cost itself provides insight into the economic mechanisms that underpinned the telegraph network during the mid‑1800s.
