In early 1936 the world's first public video telephone service was developed by Dr. Georg Schubert and opened by the German Reichspost (Post Office) between Berlin and Leipzig, utilizing broadband coaxial cable to cover the distance of approximately 100 miles (160 km). The system employed mechanical television scanning and 8 inches (20 cm) square displays with a resolution of 180 lines operating at 25 frames per second.[35] Its opening was inaugurated by the Minister of Posts Paul von Eltz-Rübenach in Berlin on March 1, 1936, who viewed and spoke with Leipzig's chief burgomaster.[36][37] The same coaxial cables were also used to distribute television programming throughout Germany. In the initial service trial, broadband coaxial cable lines initially linked Berlin to Leipzig.

After a period of experimentation the system entered public use and was soon extended 100 miles (160 km) from Berlin to Hamburg, and in July 1938 from Leipzig to Nuremberg and Munich, eventually providing more than 620 miles (1,000 km) of transmission lines. The videophones were integrated within large public telephone booths, with two booths provided per city. Calls between Berlin and Leipzig cost RM3½, approximately one sixth of a British pound sterling, or about one-fifteenth of the average weekly wage.[35] The video telephone equipment in Berlin was designed and built by the German Post Office Laboratory. Devices used in other German cities were developed by Fernseh-Aktiengesellschaft, which was partly owned by the Baird Television Ltd of the U.K.,[35] inventors of the world's first working television. While the system's image quality was primitive by modern standards, it was deemed impressive in contemporary reports of the era, with users able to clearly discern the hands on wristwatches.[35]