清光绪二十五年 (1899),电报官局兼办了只供衙署官邸使用的电话。这是中国电话之始。庚子年间,在八国联军侵略中被毁。同年,丹商璞尔生在各占领国领事团的支持下,在天津维多利亚胡同(今大沽路新成里)3号,非法设立电铃公司,自英租界架线至塘沽; 次年,又延伸到北京,经营电话电报业务,侵犯中国电信主权。
        北洋大臣袁世凯为了与电铃公司抗争,委派日本技师吉田正秀勘察架设电话线。光绪三十年九月二十七日 (1904年11月4日),由天津电话局总办,自北京架至天津总车站(今北站),与城区电话衔接。这是中国自建的第一条长途电话线。也是天津电话局的发端。电话局的总办由张振棨兼任。
        当时,天津电话发展很快,璞尔生电铃公司的用户纷纷改用天津局的电话,使该公司入不敷出。为了维护中国电信主权,统一电话管理,经张振棨等人与璞尔生反复交涉,签订了收购合同,确定于光绪三十一年二月二十七日(1905年4月1日),由中国电报局将电铃公司接收管理; 给予璞尔生天津行平化宝银5万两,平均分5次交付,分二年半期限给清; 聘请璞尔生为顾问官,月薪英洋800元,合同3年,听从中国电报局总办的差遣,与天津各工部局及北京各国公使商办交接事宜; 代为照料该公司的电话事务。
        光绪三十二年八月(1906年10月),天津电报局将璞尔生代管的各局机器、杆线、物料及一切工程线路、出入款项等,造册结算清楚; 该公司所设的塘沽、紫竹林、河北、杨村4处分局,由天津局接管,其余河西务、通州、北京西城3处分局,由北京局接管。
        光绪三十三年七月 (1907年8月),随着电话业务的发展,天津电话局与电报局同在一处办公,办公房不够使用。于是电话局在闸口街(今荣吉大街)购买北洋烟草公司房屋一所,便迁入此处办公和营业。
        宣统元年七月 (1909年8月),邮传部委命杨毓璋任天津电话局总办,从此不再由电报局总办兼任。

        

·20世纪20年代使用的电话机

        1913年11月,天津电话局在闸口街原址,拆旧改新所建设的大楼落成,称天津电话总局。1914年8月,总局改装共电式若干交换机4000门竣工通话。随着用户逐年增加,1918年已达3000余户,实占容量趋于饱和,尚有待装者400余户。于是又在英租界(今烟台道)购置空地,筹建电话南局,1921年8月建成通话。
        1925年天津电话局开始实行更换自动机计划。1926年11月,因为总局准备改装自动机,房屋不够使用,于是将局机关各课股,迁移到南电话分局办公,改总局为中局。1927年10月1日,在意租界四马路(今光复道) ,建成天津电话东局(后改称四局),这是中国自建的第一个自动电话局。
        1928年5月,电话南局(后改称三局)更换自动机竣工。同年9月1日,电话中局改装自动机通话,定名二局。其保留的人工机部分,定名五局。1929年11月13日,电话北局(定名六局)在河北月纬路装竣通话。至此,天津电话局共有二、三、四、五、六等5个分局,交换机总容量达到15600门,其中自动机9000门。这时,天津自动电话发展之快居全国之首。根据交通部《电话局章程》规定,天津电话局为一等局。下设业务、工务、事务3课,课下设若干股,分理各事。

        

·1913年建成的天津电话局闸口新局

        In 1899(the 25th year of Emperor Guangxu),theTelegraph Bureau began to deal with telephone servicethat had been available only to Yamens,governmentoffices and homes of officials. This was the start oftelephone service in Tianjin. However,the TelegraphBureau was destroyed in 1900. In the same year,abusinessman from Denmark illegally set up the ElectricRing Company in Victorian Lane in Tianjin (nowXincheng Lane in Dagu Road) with the support ofconsulates of occupying countries. He put up wires fromthe British concession to Tanggu. In the next year,heextended the wires to Beijing. In this way,he dealt withtelephone and telegraph services in China,infringing thetelecommunication sovereignty of China.
        To compete with the Electric Ring Company,YuanShikai entrusted a Japanese technician to investigateand to put up telephone wires. In November 4,1904 (the30th year of Emperor Guangxu),under the directionof Tianjin Telephone Bureau,wires were put up fromBeijing to Tianjin General Station (now the NorthStation),joining those in Tianjin city zone. This was thefirst long distance telephone line put up by China,whichmarked the beginning of Tianjin Telephone Bureau`sbusiness. The director of Tianjin Telephone Bureau wasZhang Zhenzhao.
        After that,telephones spred quickly in Tianjin.Many customers fromt Electric Ring Companybecame customers of Tianjin Telephone Bureau. TheElectric Ring Company quickly went bankrupt. Tomaintain telecommunication sovereignty and to puttelephone management under the name of TianjinTelephone Bureau,Zhang Zhengzhao signed a purchasecontract with the Denmark businessman.after repeatednegotiations. The contract prescribes that: 1) On April1st 1905 (the 31st year of Emperor Guangxu),ChinaTelephone Bureau took over the management of TheElectric Ring Company. 2) China Telephone Bureau paidto The Electric Ring Company 50,000 Liang of silver.The payment would be paid five times within two anda half years. 3) The Electric Ring Company employedthe Denmark businessman as the counselor with themonthly payment of 800 pounds and the contract termof 3 years. He must report to the General TechnologyOffice of China Telephone Bureau. He was responsiblefor negotiating with involved departments of Tianjinand foreign legations in Beijing about handover matters.He was also responsible for telephone service of ChinaTelephone Bureau.
        In October 1906 (the 32nd year of EmperorGuangxu),Tianjin Telegraph Bureau settled themachines; materials,engineering lines,income andexpenses. Its Tanggu,Zizhulin,Hebei and Yangcuntelephone exchanges were taken over by TianjinTelephone Bureau,and Hexiwu,Tongzhou and the westBeijing exchanges were taken over by Beijing TelephoneBureau.
        In August 1907 (the 33rd year of EmperorGuangxu),with the development of telephone services,Tianjin Telephone Bureau found it crowded to shareoffices with Tianjin Telegraph Bureau. Therefore,itpurchased a house from the Northern Tobacco Companyat Yingkou Street (now Rongji Street) and moved herefor offices and service.
        In August 1909 (the 1st year of EmperorXuantong),the Telecommunication and TransportationMinistry of the royal government appointed YangMinzhang as the general manager of Tianjin TelephoneBureau that shared a general manager with TianjinTelegraph Bureau.
        In November 1913,Tianjin Telephone Bureaucompleted the renovation of its building in ZhakouStreet,called Tianjin Telephone Bureau General. InAugust 1914,the Bureau General reassembled 4000common-power switches for telephone service. With theincrease of telephone users,the occupation had reachedalmost 100% of the capacity when the number of usersreached more than 3000 and there were still more than400 users to be installed in 1918. Under this situation,the Bureau General purchased an empty land in theBritish concession (now Yantai Road) to build TianjinSouthern Telephone Bureau which was completed theconstruction and started its service in August 1921.
        In 1925 Tianjin Telephone Bureau Generalprepared to replace switches with automatic exchanges.Therefore,part of its office moved to Tianjin SouthernTelephone Bureau and was renamed as Tianjin MiddleTelephone Bureau. In October 1,1927,the first automatictelephone exchange was built by Tianjin EasternTelephone Bureau (renamed Tianjin No. 4 TelephoneBureau later) in Si Road (now Guangfu Street) in theItaly concession.
        In May 1928,Tianjin Southern Telephone Bureau(renamed as Tianjin No.3 Telephone Bureau later)completed its replacement of automatic exchanges.In the same year,in September 1,Tianjin MiddleTelephone Bureau (renamed as Tianjin No.2 TelephoneBureau later) completed its replacement of automaticexchanges and part of it with manual telephones wasnamed as Tianjin No. 5 Telephone Bureau. In November13,1929,Tianjin Northern Telephone Bureau (renamedas Tianjin No.6 Telephone Bureau) was completed forservice in Yuewei Road in Hebei District. Until thenthere were five branch exchanges for Tianjin TelephoneBureau. It altogether had an exchange capacity of 15600switches,among which 9000 was automatic. Automatictelephone service was developed fastest in Tianjinin China. According to Constitution of TelephoneExchanges issued by Ministry of Transportation,TianjinTelephone Bureau was the primary bureau with threedivisions,service,technology and support. There werealso many departments under the three divisions dealingwith different matters.