Opportunities for future telepresence services, creating a sense of being present at a remote location, are outlined against a backdrop of telephony as an existing, highly successful telecommunications service. In providing a context for the papers of this themed issue, key telepresence technologies, the building blocks of future services, addressing issues in audio, data, video and virtual environments are reviewed. The practical complexity of commercial telepresence applications, where developments in component multimedia technologies must be complemented by advances in integration, interface and service, is also considered. The paper concludes with a commentary on early applications and a vision of more generic future telepresence solutions — ‘Immersive Conferencing‘ and ‘Persistent Communities‘.