The Evolution of
Telecommunications
Technology and Policy
Chapter 3
Objectives
In this chapter, you will learn to:
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Describe the growth of telecommunications technology
since the late 19th century
Identify key inventions and their current equivalents in
telephony technology
Explain the impetus for and impact of AT&T’s divestiture
Discuss how government has influenced the way in which
consumers obtain telecommunications services
List current policy trends that affect the
telecommunications industry
Early Signaling and Telegraphy
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Semaphore - a type of signaling, in which visual cues
represent letters or words.
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Morse code - the transmission of a series of short and
long pulses (dots and dashes) that represented
characters.
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Duplexing - simultaneously transmitting a signal in both
directions along the same wire.
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Multiplexing - simultaneously transmitting an
indeterminate number of multiple signals over one circuit.
Early Signaling and Telegraphy
Telephone Technology
Telephone Technology
Telephone Technology
Telephone Technology
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In 1913, N.J. Reynolds, a Western Electric engineer,
developed a better automatic switch, the crossbar
switch. It used a grid of horizontal and vertical bars, with
electromagnets at their ends. The horizontal bars could
rotate up and down to connect to specific vertical bars
and thus complete circuits.
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Time division switching - a transmission technique in
which samples from multiple incoming lines are digitized,
then each sample is issued to the same circuit, in a
predetermined sequence, before finally being transmitted
to the correct outbound line.
Telephone Technology
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Space division switching - manipulating the physical
space between two lines, thereby closing a circuit to
connect a call.
Local switching center (often called a local office) - a
place where multiple phone lines from homes and
businesses in one geographic area converge and
terminate.
Tandem switching center - an exchange where lines
from multiple local offices converge and terminate.
Toll switching center - an exchange where lines from
multiple tandem switching centers converge and
terminate.
Telephone Technology
Wireless Technology
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Telegraphs and telephones are examples of
wireline, or wire-bound technology, because
they rely on physically connected wires to
transmit and receive signals.
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Wireless technology - relies on the
atmosphere to transmit and receive signals.
Wireless Technology
Wireless Technology
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Vacuum tube - a sealed container made of glass, metal,
or ceramic, that contains, in a vacuum, a charged plate
that transmits current to a filament.
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Audion - patented in 1907by DeForest, is a type of
vacuum tube that contains an additional electrode in the
middle of the positive and negative electrodes.
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Frequency modulation - one wave containing the
information to be transmitted (for example, on a classical
FM radio station, a violin concerto) is combined with
another wave, called a carrier wave, whose frequency is
constant.
Wireless Technology
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Geosynchronous - means that satellites orbit
the earth at the same rate as the earth turns.
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Uplink - a broadcast from an earth-based
transmitter to an orbiting satellite.
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At the satellite, a transponder receives the
uplink, then transmits the signals to another
earth-based location in a downlink.
Wireless Technology
Early Computing
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Computing - the automatic manipulation of input
based on logical instructions.
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Difference engine - an English mathematics
professor (Charles Babbage), proposed an
automated calculating machine as large as a
locomotive and powered by steam.
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Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer
(ENIAC) - a multipurpose computer so large that it
required its own 30 foot by 50 foot room.
Early Computing
Early Computing
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Memory - in the mid-1940s, a U.S. scientist
named Jon Von Neumann designed a computer
that was capable of retaining logical instructions
for use at any time, even after the computer
had been turned off, then on again.
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UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) the first computer designed for business (and
not merely scientific purposes), became
available in 1951.
Early Computing
Early Antitrust Measures
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After acquiring dozens of new patents from other companies and
exponentially increasing its value, the Bell Telephone Company became
American Bell in 1880.
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In 1882, American Bell gained a controlling interest in the Western
Electric Company, and together, they became known as the Bell System.
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In 1885, American Telegraph and Telephone (AT&T) was incorporated as
a subsidiary of the Bell System, with the aim of constructing a long
distance telephone network and providing long distance service (to Bell
System subscribers only).
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By 1899, AT&T bought out American Bell and became the parent
company of the Bell System.
Early Antitrust Measures
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Until 1984, AT&T consisted of the following:
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AT&T, the parent company and long-distance provider
22 Bell Operating Companies (BOCs), the telephone
companies that provided local service in different
regions of the nation
Western Electric, the manufacturing arm of the
company
Bell Telephone Laboratories, the research and
development arm of the company, responsible for
innovation and new technology
Early Antitrust Measures
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Kingsbury Commitment - fearing that the government
might use its antitrust laws against it, AT&T approached
the U.S. Department of Justice in 1913 with a proposal
for reducing its monopoly.
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As a result of the Kingsbury Commitment, AT&T
functioned as a regulated monopoly from 1913 to 1984.
Being a regulated monopoly meant that although AT&T
was allowed to provide services without any competitors,
it was subject to a great deal of constraints dictated by
the government
The Communications Act of 1934
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From 1910 to 1934, the Interstate Commerce
Commission (ICC) regulated telegraph and radio
service.
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In 1934, Congress passed the Communications Act
of 1934, which established the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC), state Public
Utilities Commissions (PUCs), and initial guidelines
for the telephone industry.
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The Communications Act of 1934 also put into law
the provisions of the Kingsbury Commitment.
Challenging the Monopoly
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Hush-a-Phone decision - a Supreme court ruling
that allowed "foreign attachments," or devices that
were not manufactured by AT&T to be affixed to AT&T
telephones.
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However, the Hush-a-Phone decision did not allow
other companies’ equipment to interconnect with
AT&T lines
Challenging the Monopoly
Challenging the Monopoly
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The restriction against interconnecting to AT&T’s
telephone network was challenged in 1965 and
eventually lifted in 1968 through the Carterfone decision.
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In 1969, a company called Microwave Communications
International (MCI) began carrying business phone calls
over a private microwave link between St. Louis, Missouri
and Chicago. Because MCI didn’t use the Bell System, it
did not have to pay AT&T for use of its infrastructure.
AT&T Divestiture
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The Modified Final Judgment (MFJ) accompanied by over 500 pages of instructions
detailing exactly how AT&T should be divided.
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The Justice Department’s primary goal for
breaking up AT&T was to spur innovation and
competition in a field that would prove even
more vital in the latter part of the century than it
had in the first.
AT&T Divestiture
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As part of the MFJ, AT&T was forced to divide.
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From the 22 former Bell Operating Companies that provided
local phone service and phone directories, the MFJ created
seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs).
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The business that AT&T kept was separated into two divisions:
AT&T Technologies, which handled the innovation and
production of new technologies, and AT&T Communications,
which handled long distance phone service.
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The research and development business, formerly Bell
Laboratories, became Bell Communications Research
(Bellcore) and was jointly owned by the new RBOCs.
AT&T Divestiture
AT&T Divestiture
AT&T Divestiture
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Until the divestiture of AT&T, the distinction between local
service and long distance service was not clear.
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In the MFJ, Judge Harold Greene subdivided each RBOC
region into Local Access and Transport Areas (LATAs),
roughly equivalent to area codes at that time.
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Phone service within a specific LATA was known as intraLATA
service.
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Companies that supply local, or intraLATA telephone service are
known as local exchange carriers (LECs).
AT&T Divestiture
AT&T Divestiture
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InterLATA - a service that allowed for calls between
LATAs was known.
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Interexchange carriers (IXCs) - another name for
InterLATA service providers. Examples of IXCs include
Sprint, MCI (now WorldCom), and AT&T.
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Equal access - requiring local phone companies to
provide equal access to their facilities meant that AT&T
no longer had an unfair advantage over new competitors
in long distance services.
The Telecommunications Act of
1996
The Telecommunications Act of
1996
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The Act codified requirements for the interconnection of all
local exchange carriers. These policies included:
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Interconnecting with other service providers and not imposing any
barriers to interconnection
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Enabling nondiscriminatory resale of their services to competitors
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Providing number portability, or the ability of telecommunications
service users to retain their same telephone number without
hampering the quality, reliability, or convenience of their phone
service
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Allowing competitors to access and connect to their facilities
The Telecommunications Act of
1996
To increase competition in local phone service, the
Act placed the following requirements on all ILECs:
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Negotiating interconnection agreements in good faith
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Providing competitors with the same type and quality of
access to their facilities that they themselves could obtain at
their cost
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Providing competitors with access to subscriber information,
such as telephone numbers and billing data
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Offering nondiscriminatory, wholesale prices for
telecommunications services to all competitors
The Telecommunications Act of
1996
The Telecommunications Act of
1996
Emerging Technologies
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At this time, Congress is debating a bill that would
remove all long-distance and high-speed Internet access
service restrictions on RBOCs.
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One issue that the RBOCs continue to battle is the
access fees applied to each connection with a customer
or another carrier.
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In 1999, Congress mandated cable service providers to
allow any Internet company to distribute content over its
infrastructure without any extra cost
Summary
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In 1837, Samuel Morse invented the telegraph, which consisted
of an electromagnet and a hand-operated switch, known as a
key, to alternately open or close an electrical circuit over a wire.
What he transmitted was a series of short and long pulses (dots
and dashes) that represented characters, known as Morse code.
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To connect multiple subscribers, Alexander Graham Bell devised
the telephone exchange, where subscriber lines terminated and
operators connected the circuits to complete a call.
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The first computer designed for business (and not merely
scientific purposes), the Universal Automatic Computer
(UNIVAC) became available in 1951.