Telecom History in France

Johannes, 11th Prince of Thurn und Taxis with Aimée de Heeren and the editor of Whitepages.fr

1986 January Johannes von Thurn und Taxis
comes to Paris to accompany his wife for the fashion week.
He meets a young studient working
in the fashion shows on a part time job.

The student is invited for lunch
to a magical place,
the famous Hotel Ritz

Thurn & Taxis tells him unbeleivable stories
about his ancestors inventing the Postal Services
in the Italian Alps over 500 years ago ...



1986 May Johannes von Thurn und Taxis
returns to Paris. He meets the young student again
and takes him to the no longer existing Cafe Costes
in Chatelet les Halles, place des Innocents.

The conversation continues about the fascinating Telecom stories,
horses crossing the Alps from Italy to Brussels

He wants to show the student
an old building packed with history,
the former Hotel de la Poste
also called Hotel de Vileroy & Bourbon (VB)

Johannes, 11th Prince of Thurn und Taxis (1926 - 1990) with his grandfather Albert

Johannes knew about the old mansion from his grandfather Albert

Postmaster Maximilian Karl, 6th Prince von Thurn und Taxis (1802 - 1871) grandfather of Albert von Thurn und Taxis

The grandfather of Johannes, Albert von Thurn & Taxis knew about the mansion from stories left by his grandfather the Postmaster Maximilian Karl

Postmaster Karl Anselm, 4th Prince von Thurn und Taxis (1733 - 1805) grandfather of Maximilian Karl

Maximilian Karl, knew about the mansion from his grandfather Anselm Franz

Postmaster Anselm Franz, 2nd Prince of Thurn und Taxis model in the White Pages Logo (1681 - 1740)

Anselm Franz had come to visit the mansion operated by Postmaster Louis Leon Pajot

1986 Mai Showing the old Postal mansion
to the young student
Johannes Thurn und Taxis was fascinated
to see the building again ...


He had the feeling that "Spirit of Telecommunications"
was still around.
Nothing seamed to have changed since mai 1738,
248 years earlier

Even the water fountain for the Postal Horses
was still there ...

Salon de The, Boutique, Cadeaux in 1986 today Cremerie de Paris No2

Next to the Postal Mansion
there is a little shop Salon de The, Boutique, Cadeaux
with a sign "a ceder"

Johannes wants to call the number right away.
As mobiles did not exist yet
he goes to the opposit cafe place Saint Opportune
asking to use the phone. Hangig up the receiver:

"The price is not even half
of what my wife spends a dress ...
If you invent something in Telecom
I give you the money to get the Boutique.
It would be so much fun for me to watch the project
and I'll use it as a test to return
into Telecom ... "

1986 June with the keys to the little Boutique
Telecom has just returned ...

Spirit of Telecom returns as a small Repair Boutique for Sony Phones

Well when you are just 20 and you have the keys to a Boutique on a Telecom Hotspot in Paris a lot of adventures are waiting for you ...

Sony IT A 550

1980s France Telecom has a Monopoly over the market,
not only the phonelines,
but also the phones,
which need to have an agreement
so that they can be sold in France.

"Apparareil agrée PTT",
a "quantity label" which for mysterious reasons
is not available to every
manufacturer of telephones,
in particular not the the "one and only" barns of the 1980s
Sony.

While answering machines and cordless homephones
made by Sony, Panasonic, Brother or other,
mostly japanese Brands are sold
for less than 100 USD (about 600 French Francs) in New York
bulky repondeurs (french for answering machine)
made by Alcatel, Thomson of Philips can be found
in Paris for 2000 French Francs.