தொலைத்தொடர்பு (Telecommunication) என்பது ஒரு தகவலை ஓரிடத்திலிருந்து இன்னோரிடத்துக்குக் கடத்துகின்ற ஒரு நுட்பமாகும். தொலைத்தொடர்பு என்ற சொல், வானொலி, தந்தி, தொலைபேசி, தொலைக்காட்சி, தரவுத் தொடர்பு, கணினி வலையமைப்பு போன்ற எல்லாத் தொலைதூரத் தொடர்புகளையும் உள்ளடக்குகின்றது.

Telecommunication, often used in its plural form, is the transmission of information with an immediacy comparable to face-to-face communication. As such, slow communications technologies like postal mail and pneumatic tubes are excluded from the definition. Many transmission media have been used for telecommunications throughout history, from smoke signals, beacons, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs to wires and empty space made to carry electromagnetic signals. These paths of transmission may be divided into communication channels for multiplexing, allowing for a single medium to transmit several concurrent communication sessions. Several methods of long-distance communication before the modern era used sounds like coded drumbeats, the blowing of horns, and whistles. Long-distance technologies invented during the 20th and 21st centuries generally use electric power, and include the telegraph, telephone, television, and radio.