New exhibit showcases MTS Allstream’s first 100 years
WINNIPEG – MTS Allstream has announced a free new public exhibit that chronicles the important role it played in the advancement of telecommunications in Canada, and the company’s evolution over the course of its first 100 years.
MTS Allstream: Connecting Canadians into Our Second Century exhibit is located in the historic Eaton’s window on the second floor of the MTS Centre in Winnipeg close to the Portage Avenue and Donald Street entrance and is open until early 2009.
"We take pride in the role we have played in making Manitoba the great place it is today," said Pierre Blouin, chief executive officer of MTS Allstream. "We have led a number of technological and service innovations that have, quite simply, improved the way Manitobans do business and communicate with one another – from pioneering touch-tone technology and rural fibre optics, to becoming an international leader in digital television provided through the telephone lines."
The exhibit, created with the assistance of The Manitoba Museum, features artifacts from the company’s corporate historical collection which help to trace the evolution of telephone and telecommunications services through the technological revolutions of the 20th century. They include:
– A telegraph key, used to send Morse Code from the late 1800s to the 1940s.
– A variety of different telephone sets, including the 1914 Long wood wall set that was the standard in rural Manitoba for about 50 years, as well as the 1968 Contempra touch-tone phone, which was introduced when Brandon became the first Canadian city to provide touch-tone dialing.
– Cellular phones which illustrate the tremendous advancements in mobile telephony over the last 20 years, from the bag-style cell phone of 1988 to the pocket-sized BlackBerry 8130, which has only been in the market a matter of months, and which incorporates such functions as still and video cameras, media players, messaging, browsing, and all the calling features available with cellular voice service today.
For more information about the company’s history and its 100th anniversary celebrations throughout 2008, visit www.connectingcanadians.com.
