The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcasts radio news, speech and discussions in more than 40 languages to many parts of the world on analogue and digital shortwave platforms, internet streaming, podcasting, satellite, DAB, FM and MW relays. In 2015, the World Service reached an average of 210 million people a week. In November 2016, the BBC announced that it would start broadcasting in additional languages including Amharic and Igbo, in its biggest expansion since the 1940s.
Bush House in London was home to the World Service between 1941 and 2012.
The BBC World Service is located in Broadcasting House, London.
Steve Titherington - BBC World Questions broadcasting from Budapest
International broadcasting
International broadcasting, in a limited extent, began during World War I, when German and British stations broadcast press communiqués using Morse code. With the severing of Germany's undersea cables, the wireless telegraph station in Nauen was the country's sole means of long-distance communication.
Guglielmo Marconi carried out the first short wave transmissions over a long distance.
Joseph Goebbels headed Nazi Germany's Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. International broadcasting was an important element in Nazi propaganda.