Unquestionably the British Empire - with telegraph connections to Australia established in 1871, Britain had enormous swaths of the globe - from Tikitiki on the North Island of New Zealand all the way west to Beaver Creek in the Yukon, with stops for the Indian subcontinent and an enormous chunk of Africa along the way - under its direct control with end-to-end communication.

In terms of the area of control established by communications, unquestionably the British Empire - with telegraph connections to Australia established in 1871, Britain had enormous swaths of the globe - from Tikitiki on the North Island of New Zealand all the way west to Beaver Creek in the Yukon, with stops for the Indian subcontinent and an enormous chunk of Africa along the way - under its direct control with end-to-end communication.

In terms of the length of time it took to reach the farthest corner of the empire, the British still win, with some sea routes to its farthest possessions taking many months even with the sophisticated and well practiced maritime practices of the 19th century. It was much longer with older vessels and navigation techniques.