The history of telecommunications in Jordan can be traced back to early 1921. After the foundation of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Ministry of Post, Telegraph and Telephony was established which further developed the country's Telecommunications Services. In 1961, the first automatic telephone switch service was introduced utilizing an electromechanical switch with a capacity of approximately 5000 lines. In 1971, a new government-controlled body, the Telecommunications Corporation (T.C.C) was set up to take over the day-to-day running of the communications services such as telephone, telegraph and telex. Also a satellite earth station at Baqa'a was in operation using Intelsat facilities. From 1973 to 1985, Jordan Telecom's network underwent significant expansion as part of a government investment program. In 1993 the government was able to initiate a development program known as the National Telecommunications Program (NTP).
