Siemens Communications division was founded in 1998 through the amalgamation of a number of early groups / divisions of Siemens AG, the oldest of which traces back to the company 'Siemens & Halske Telegraph Construction Company' founded in 1847, and the most prominent predecessor being the 1978-founded 'Siemens Communication Systems'.

In 1867, Siemens completed the monumental Indo-European telegraph line stretching over 11,000 km from London to Calcutta.

[3] The restructuring placed Siemens AG in a position to consolidate and diversify its operations, and be an integrated player in all domains: engineering, power generation, industry, rail systems, defence, and information & communications technology.

In 1990, Siemens Communications Systems acquired Florida-based Stromberg-Carlson, expanding their central office switch supplier role in the public telephone network.

In October 1997, the GPT company was renamed Siemens GEC Communication Systems (SGCS), which by 1998 was merged with SBCS.

In late 1998 the then CEO of Siemens AG, Heinrich von Pierer, introduced a global ten-point plan, where it would sell or spin off one-seventh of its entire domain and exit from its defence businesses.

The revamped Siemens consisted of four main divisions: power generation, industry, rail systems, and information and communications.

[8] All of its previous communications and information technology based acquisitions were amalgamated into Siemens COM to provide products, systems, solutions, servicing and support for setting up, operating and maintaining complete corporate and carrier networks, which included ancillary services including network planning and financial consultancy.