What is telecommunications network?

A telecommunications network is a collection of terminals, links and nodes which connect to enable telecommunication between users of the terminals. Networks may use circuit switching or message switching. Each terminal in the network must have a unique address so messages or connections can be routed to the correct recipients. The collection of addresses in the network is called the address space.

The links connect the nodes together and are themselves built upon an underlying transmission network which physically pushes the message across the link.

Examples of telecommunications networks are: