CABLE & WIRELESS has had a long relationship with Aden which began with the laying of the first submarine telegraph cable to India. The link between Suez, Aden and Bombay was completed in 1870 and from this time, Aden was a major station on the system. The company’s association with Aden was temporarily ended after more than 100 years in 1978 when the People’s Democratic Republic of the Yemen took over the station.
In the 1990s the relationship was renewed with the development of a mobile telecommunications network by Tele-Yemen.
The Daily Telegraph of Christmas 1872 reported
‘The small and isolated population here desires the expression of its wishes that every one at home may enjoy a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Christmas will be celebrated in Aden by a Masonic Ball, despite the excessive heat of the weather… Events here are few and unexciting – the most striking of late days being the temporary sojourn of the Rajah of Rampoor and his numerous suite, going in pomp on a pilgrimage to Mecca…’
This photograph shows staff at Aden, c.1890
