The Evolution of Telecommunications Technology and Policy

1
The Evolution of Telecommunications Technology
and Policy

• Chapter 3

2
Objectives

• In this chapter, you will learn to
• 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 ATTs
  divestiture
• Discuss how government has influenced the way in
  which consumers obtain telecommunications
  services
• List current policy trends that affect the
  telecommunications industry

3
Evolution of Telecommunication Technology

• Todays telecommunication technologies have
  evolved from the earliest smoke signals to almost
  instant global transmission of large amounts of
  data.

4
Early Signaling and Telegraphy

• Semaphore - a type of signaling, in which visual
  cues represent letters or words.
• Morse code - the transmission of a series of
  short and long pulses (dots and dashes) that
  represented characters.
• Duplexing - simultaneously transmitting a signal
  in both directions along the same wire.
• Multiplexing - simultaneously transmitting an
  indeterminate number of multiple signals over one
  circuit.

5
Early Signaling and Telegraphy

• 1856 - Western Union Telegraph Company was
  founded.
• 1861 Over two thousand telegraph offices
  operated across the United States.

6
Telephone Technology
7
Telephone Technology
8
Infrastructure

• Wires criss-crossing cities and states and
  terminating in several exchanges or central
  offices.
• Exchange was also known as a switching point
  because the device used to open and close a
  circuit is known as a switch.
• Operators would connect the circuits and complete
  the call for the subscriber.
• Subscribers refers to a telephone company customer

9
Telephone Technology

• 1878- The first telephone exchange opened in New
  Haven, Connecticut.
• Connected 21 separate lines.

10
Telephone Technology

• In 1889 Almon Strowger developed the automatic
  switch called the step-by-step.
• In 1896 he replaced the button-pushing method
  with a rotary dialer.

11
Telephone Technology

• 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.
• Original version could complete 10 simultaneous
  connections.
• By the 1970 a single crossbar could connect
  35,000 connections.

12
Telephone Technology

• In the mid-20th century ATT integrated
  electronics into crossbar switches
• 1965 first electronic switching system was used
• Handled up to 65,000 two-way voice circuits.
• Until 1970 all telephone switches depended on a
  continuous physical connection to complete and
  maintain the call.

13
Telephone Technology

• 1976 New electronic switching device was put
  into service.
• 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.

14
Telephone Technology

• 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.

15
Telephone Technology
16
Wireless Technology

• Telegraphs and telephones are examples of
  wireline, or wire-bound technology, because they
  rely on physically connected wires to transmit
  and receive signals.
• Wireless technology - relies on the atmosphere to
  transmit and receive signals.

17
Wireless Technology

• Examples of wireless technology
• Phones
• Radios
• Televisions
• Satellite communications

18
Wireless Technology

• 1894- Italian physicist Guglielmo Marconi a
  method of transmitting electromagnetic signals
  through the air.
• His invention relied on an induction coil.

19
Wireless Technology

• Induction coil is made by winding wire in a
  either one or multiple layers around a metal rod
  to form a coil then applying a charge
• Charged wire induces an electromagnetic field
  that generates voltage
• Marconi connected an induction coil to a
  telegraph key. Each time the key was pressed the
  coil discharged a voltage through the air between
  to brass surfaces
• Metal filings in a glass cylinder became charged
  and cohered. The length of time they cohered
  translated into short and long pulses.
• Pulses were relayed to a Morse code printer.
• Marconi invention used the same type of signals
  sent and received by a telegraph.

20
Wireless Technology

• 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.
• 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.
• Boosts or amplifies a signal.
• First instants of signal amplification and it
  formed the basis for all subsequent radio and
  television advances.
• 1912- Edwin Armstrong improved the Audion. He
  discovered that by feeding the signal back in the
  tube the power of the Audion could be increased.

21
Wireless Technology

• Continued experimentation resulted in the
  invention of Frequency modulation.
• Frequency modulation is technology used in FM
  radio and other forms of wireless technology.
• In 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.
• Frequency is the number of times each second that
  a sine wave completes a full cycle.

22
Wireless Technology

• The advent of FM radio afforded the best clarity
  of all wireless technologies then available.
• Walkie-Talkies use frequency modulation
• 1946- Bell Laboratories connect the first
  wireless car phone to the St. Louis network.
• 1962- Telstar Satellite successfully transmitted
  television and telephone conversation across the
  Atlantic for the first time.

23
Wireless Technology

• Geosynchronous - means that satellites orbit the
  earth at the same rate as the earth turns.
• Uplink - a broadcast from an earth-based
  transmitter to an orbiting satellite.
• At the satellite, a transponder receives the
  uplink, then transmits the signals to another
  earth-based location in a downlink.

24
Wireless Technology
25
Early Computing

• 1822- Charles Babbage father of computing
• Computing - the automatic manipulation of input
  based on logical instructions.
• Difference engine - an English mathematics
  professor, proposed an automated calculating
  machine as large as a locomotive and powered by
  steam.
• Herman Hollerith - used his punch card invention
  to found the Tabulating Machine company which
  later became known as International Business
  Machines (IBM).

26
Early Computing

• Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer
  (ENIAC) - a multipurpose computer so large that
  it required its own 30 foot by 50 foot room.
• ENIAC was first used to assist with ballistics
  calculations.

27
Early Computing

• 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.
• UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) - the
  first computer designed for business (and not
  merely scientific purposes), became available in
  1951.

28
Early Computing
29
Early Antitrust Measures

• In 1877 Bell and two other men formed the Bell
  Telephone Company.
• After acquiring dozens of new patents from other
  companies and exponentially increasing its value,
  the Bell Telephone Company became American Bell
  in 1880.
• In 1882, American Bell gained a controlling
  interest in the Western Electric Company, and
  together, they became known as the Bell System.
• In 1885, American Telegraph and Telephone (ATT)
  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).
• By 1899, ATT bought out American Bell and became
  the parent company of the Bell System.

30
Early Antitrust Measures

• Until 1984, ATT consisted of the following
• ATT, 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

31
Early Antitrust Measures

• Kingsbury Commitment - fearing that the
  government might use its antitrust laws against
  it, ATT approached the U.S. Department of
  Justice in 1913 with a proposal for reducing its
  monopoly.
• As a result of the Kingsbury Commitment, ATT
  functioned as a regulated monopoly from 1913 to
  1984. Being a regulated monopoly meant that
  although ATT was allowed to provide services
  without any competitors, it was subject to a
  great deal of constraints dictated by the
  government

32
The Communications Act of 1934

• From 1910 to 1934, the Interstate Commerce
  Commission (ICC) regulated telegraph and radio
  service.
• 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.
• The Communications Act of 1934 also put into law
  the provisions of the Kingsbury Commitment.

33
Challenging the Monopoly

• Hush-a-Phone decision - a Supreme court ruling
  that allowed "foreign attachments," or devices
  that were not manufactured by ATT to be affixed
  to ATT telephones.
• However, the Hush-a-Phone decision did not allow
  other companies equipment to interconnect with
  ATT lines
• Carterfone decision was named after a means of
  connecting private, radio controlled telephone to
  the local telephone lines which was invented by
  Tom Carter the same man who invented the
  Hush-a-Phone device.

34
Challenging the Monopoly
35
Challenging the Monopoly

• The restriction against interconnecting to ATTs
  telephone network was challenged in 1965 and
  eventually lifted in 1968 through the Carterfone
  decision.
• 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 didnt use the Bell System, it did
  not have to pay ATT for use of its
  infrastructure.

36
ATT Divestiture

• The Modified Final Judgment (MFJ) - accompanied
  by over 500 pages of instructions detailing
  exactly how ATT should be divided.
• The Justice Departments primary goal for
  breaking up ATT 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.

37
ATT Divestiture

• As part of the MFJ, ATT was forced to divide.
• From the 22 former Bell Operating Companies that
  provided local phone service and phone
  directories, the MFJ created seven Regional Bell
  Operating Companies (RBOCs).
• The business that ATT kept was separated into
  two divisions ATT Technologies, which handled
  the innovation and production of new
  technologies, and ATT Communications, which
  handled long distance phone service.
• The research and development business, formerly
  Bell Laboratories, became Bell Communications
  Research (Bellcore) and was jointly owned by the
  new RBOCs.

38
ATT Divestiture
39
ATT Divestiture
40
ATT Divestiture

• Until the divestiture of ATT, the distinction
  between local service and long distance service
  was not clear.
• 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.
• Phone service within a specific LATA was known as
  intraLATA service.
• Companies that supply local, or intraLATA
  telephone service are known as local exchange
  carriers (LECs).

41
ATT Divestiture
42
ATT Divestiture

• InterLATA - a service that allowed for calls
  between LATAs was known.
• Interexchange carriers (IXCs) - another name for
  InterLATA service providers. Examples of IXCs
  include Sprint, MCI (now WorldCom), and ATT.
• Equal access - requiring local phone companies to
  provide equal access to their facilities meant
  that ATT no longer had an unfair advantage over
  new competitors in long distance services.

43
The Telecommunications Act of 1996
44
The Telecommunications Act of 1996

• The Act codified requirements for the
  interconnection of all local exchange carriers.
  These policies included
• Interconnecting with other service providers and
  not imposing any barriers to interconnection
• Enabling nondiscriminatory resale of their
  services to competitors
• 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
• Allowing competitors to access and connect to
  their facilities

45
The Telecommunications Act of 1996

• To increase competition in local phone service,
  the Act placed the following requirements on all
  ILECs
• Negotiating interconnection agreements in good
  faith
• Providing competitors with the same type and
  quality of access to their facilities that they
  themselves could obtain at their cost
• Providing competitors with access to subscriber
  information, such as telephone numbers and
  billing data
• Offering nondiscriminatory, wholesale prices for
  telecommunications services to all competitors

46
The Telecommunications Act of 1996
47
The Telecommunications Act of 1996
48
Emerging Technologies

• At this time, Congress is debating a bill that
  would remove all long-distance and high-speed
  Internet access service restrictions on RBOCs.
• One issue that the RBOCs continue to battle is
  the access fees applied to each connection with a
  customer or another carrier.
• Lawmakers argue everyone should share the burden
  through some type of tax whether on service or
  equipment.
• In 1999, Congress mandated cable service
  providers to allow any Internet company to
  distribute content over its infrastructure
  without any extra cost

49
Emerging Technologies

• Digital Divide difference between the haves and
  the have-nots. Those who have access to the
  information superhighway and at what cost.
• Recent Bills in Congress
• Enhancing rural Internet access
• Efficient allocation of phone numbers
• Methods for ensuring privacy in wireless
  technology
• Measure to guard against excessive consolidation
  of telecommunication companies.

50
Summary

• 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.
• To connect multiple subscribers, Alexander Graham
  Bell devised the telephone exchange, where
  subscriber lines terminated and operators
  connected the circuits to complete a call.
• The first computer designed for business (and not
  merely scientific purposes), the Universal
  Automatic Computer (UNIVAC) became available in
  1951.

51

• Telephone technology
• Crossbar switch
• Rotary dialerAlmon Strowger
• Electronic switching system 1965 by ATT
• Time division switching
• Space division switching
• Local office, tandem office, toll office

52

• Wireless technology
• Vacuum tube
• Audion
• Frequency modulation
• Satellites
• Geosynchronous
• Uplink
• Transponder
• Downlink
• Computers

53

• Charles Babbage
• ENIAC
• UNIVAC
• Antitrust measures
• Communications Act 1934
• Challenging the Monopoly
• ATT Divesture
• Telecommunications Act 1996
• Telecommunications today