if by "They" you mean the Telecom companies, They did not have this tech in all hands 50 years ago. Maybe the major players in the industry in 1947 had access to some level of recording or server technology but it was nothing compared to what's available today in the cloud and even just onsite.

We are at a FUCKLOAD level of difference between the quality of different private systems, and their abilities of data analysis and statistical order.

This is why we need to unify everything to one database, one large system or subset of systems run by Lord Jesus Christ himself, or a subset of his brothers and sisters in this world that we live on.
Let the Government try to compete with that.