The telephone was officially invented in 1875 by Alexander Graham Bell.
Bell was granted a patent for the telephone on 7 March 1876.
Within a year the first telephone exchange (телефонная станция) was built in Connecticut and the Bell Telephone Company was created in 1877.
The first long distance telephone call was made on August 10, 1876, by Bell to his assistant.
The telephone was improved by Thomas Alva Edison.