The Tulipan was a telephone manufactured by the Radomska Wytwórnia Telefonów. This very characteristic model, with a low profile and an almost horizontal top surface, went into production towards the end of 1976. Initially, it was manufactured with a TN-74 rotary dial produced under a French licence, and from 1983 also with a numeric keypad. The latter solution was a novelty in RWT telephones – the KWI-03 pulse-dial keypad was based on the AY-5-9151B integrated circuit and had a simple design. A little later the KWI-04 pulse-dial keypad was introduced, which was more complicated and used the Motorola CMOS integrated circuit and a relay made by Siemens. The telephone had a standard ringer made by RWT. A characteristic feature of this model is the receiver, which differed from the previous designs in its flattened profile (it was also used in the Bratek telephone). The colour of the unit presented here is red, which was a very popular colour on these devices. The Tulipans were also manufactured in ebony, olive green, cherry, grey, orange, yellow, and green. Much like most of the telephones of the “flower series”, the RWT Tulipan was an export success, but, with rare exceptions, it was mostly bought by the countries of the Comecon. The telephone was manufactured in different versions until 1995.
The end of production of the Tulipan coincided with the downfall of the Radomska Wytwórnia Telefonów. The enterprise did not cope well with the economic transformation of the 1990s. Lack of state procurement, competition from powerful international telecommunications corporations, and the lack of an idea for how to operate in the new reality led to the RWT declaring bankruptcy in 1996.