Telecommunication (from Latin communicatio, referring to the social process of information exchange, and the Greek prefix tele-, meaning distance) is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communications over a distance greater than that feasible with the human voice, but with a similar scale of expediency; thus, slow systems (such as postal mail) are excluded from the field.