Pacific Cable Station Fiji, Fanning Island, and Vancouver. A branch connected to New Zealand. Since cartographers of the day traditionally coloured member countries of the British Empire in red, the route became known as the All Red Route. Cable laying started in 1902 with two ships, Anglica and Colonia. They began laying cable from Bamfield, Vancouver Island, Canada, to Fanning Island, Suva, Norfolk Island and Southport, Queensland, Australia. Colonia, built specifically for the project, laid cable from Vancouver Island to Fanning Island in the mid-Pacific. Anglia laid cable from Southport to Norfolk Island, Fiji, New Zealand and Fanning Island. The Cable Station landfall
Independent telephone company Independent telephone company An independent telephone company was a telephone company providing local service in the United States or Canada that was not part of the Bell System organized by American Telephone and Telegraph. Independent telephone companies usually operated in many rural or sparsely populated areas. The second fundamental Bell patent for telephones expired on 30 January 1894, which provided an opportunity for independent companies to provide telephone services, although some had been established before that date. The Strowger Automatic Telephone Exchange company had been formed on 30 October 1891. The first Strowger switch went into operation on 3 November