BA401 II-4 Telecommunications

The U.S. TelecommunicationsIndustry : 1996-1999Case 2-4BT2C

OutlineThe Telecommunications Act 1996

Technological DevelopmentsHistory Telecommunications has traditionally been a regulated sector of the US economy. Regulation was imposed in the early part of this century and remains until today in various parts of the sector. The main idea behind regulation was that it was necessary because the market for telecommunications services was natural monopoly, anda second competitor would not survive. Regulation was imposed to protect consumers from monopolistic abuses.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 Enacted by the U.S. Congress on February 1, 1996, and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on February 8, 1996, provided major changes in laws affecting

The Telecommunications Act of 1996

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 The law's main purpose was to stimulate competition in telecommunication services. The law specifies:

The 1996 Act aims to "preserve and advance universal service [254(b)]. This means:

Who are the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs)? The original 7 RBOCs were formed from the 1984 breakup of AT&T. AT&T originally consisted of 22 Bell Operating Companies (BOCs). The 1984 Divestiture merged the 22 BOCs into 7 RBOCs:

Who are the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs)?

Who are the Long-Distance Carriers?

Financial Data For major long-distance carrier 1996In million dollarsat&t = 52,184MCI = 18,494Qwest = 231Worldcom = 4,485Sprint = 14,045

Financial Data For major long-distance carrier 1997In million dollarsat&t = 51,319MCI = 19,653Qwest = 697Worldcom = 7,351Sprint = 14,874

Financial Data For major long-distance carrier 1998In million dollarsat&t = 53,223MCI* = 0Qwest = 2,243Worldcom = 17,678Sprint = 17,134

The largest provider of local, long distance telephone services in the United States, and also serves digital subscriber line Internet access and digital television. AT&T is the second largest provider of wireless service in the United States, with over 81.6 million wireless customers, and more than 150 million total customers

MCI, Inc. was an American Telecommunications subsidiary of Verizon Communications that is headquartered in Virginia. The corporation was originally formed as a result of the merger of WorldCom (formerly known as LDDS followed by LDDS WorldCom) and MCI Communications, and used the name MCI WorldCom followed by WorldCom before taking its final name on April 12, 2003 as part of the corporation's emergence from bankruptcy. The company formerly traded on NASDAQ under the symbols "WCOM" (pre-bankruptcy) and "MCIP" (post-bankruptcy).

Sprint Nextel Corporation is a telecommunications company based in Kansas.The company owns and operates the third-largest wireless telecommunications network in United States, with 49.3 million customers. Sprint is a global Internet carrier and makes up a portion of the Internet backbone. In the United States, the company also operates the largest wireless broadband network and is the third-largest long distance provider.

Qwest Communications International, Inc. is a large telecommunications carrier. Qwest provides local service in 14 western U.S. states. Qwest provides voice, backbone data services, and digital television in some areas. It operates in three segments: Wireline Services, Wireless Services, and Other Services. Qwest Communications also provides long-distance services and broadband data, as well as voice and video communications globally.

DSL DSL or xDSL is a family of technologies that provides digital data transmission over the wires of a local telephone network. DSL originally stood for digital subscriber loop, but as of 2009 the term digital subscriber line has been widely adopted as a more marketing-friendly term for AsymmetricDigital Subscriber line (ADSL), The download speed of consumer DSL services typically ranges from 384 kilobits per second (kbps) to 20 megabits per second (Mbps), depending on DSL technology, line conditions and service-level implementation. Typically, upload speed is lower than download speed for ADSL and equal to download speed for the rarer Symmetric Digital Subscriber line (SDSL),

Look at just a few ways people can use the Internet to add value to their lives:

Cable modem cable modem is a type of network bridge and modem that provides bi-directional data communication via radio frequency channels on a cable television(CATV) infrastructure. Cable modems are primarily used to deliver broadband Internet access in the form of cable Internet, taking advantage of the high bandwidth of a cable television network. They are commonly deployed in Australia, Europe, and North and South America. In the USA alone there were 22.5 million cable modem users during the first quarter of 2005, up from 17.4 million in the first quarter of 2004

Future of Cable modemIn 2007 Comcast Corp shows off for the first time in public new technology that enabled a data download speed of 150 megabits per second, or roughly 25 times faster than today's standard cable modems. The new cable technology is crucial because the industry is competing with a speedy new offering called FiOS, The top speed currently available through FiOS is 50 megabits per second, but the network is already capable of providing 100 Mbps and the fiber lines offer nearly unlimited potential.

Future of Cable modem "If you look at what just happened, 55 million words, 100,000 articles, more than 22,000 pictures, maps and more than 400 video clips,". "The same download on dial-up would have taken two weeks."

Dense Wavelength-division multiplexing In fiber-optic communications, Dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) is a technology which multiplexes multiple optical carrier signals on a single optical fiber by using different wavelengths (colors) of laser light to carry different signals. This allows for a multiplication in capacity, in addition to enabling bidirectional communications over one strand of fiber. This is a form of frequency division multiplexing (FDM) but is commonly called wavelength division multiplexing.

How to WDM work?WDM systems are popular with telecommunications companies because they allow them to expand the capacity of the network without laying more fiber. By using WDM and optical amplifiers, they can accommodate several generations of technology development in their optical infrastructure without having to overhaul the backbone network. Capacity of a given link can be expanded by simply upgrading the multiplexers and demultiplexers at each end. This is often done by using optical-to-electrical-to-optical (O/E/O) translation at the very edge of the transport network, thus permitting interoperation with existing equipment with optical interfaces.

How to WDM work? Most WDM systems operate on single mode fiber optical cables, which have a core diameter of 9 µm. Certain forms of WDM can also be used in multi-mode fiber cables(also known as premises cables) which have core diameters of 50 or 62.5 µm.Early WDM systems were expensive and complicated to run. However, recent standardization and better understanding of the dynamics of WDM systems have made WDM less expensive to deploy.

Internet Telephony Internet telephony also transmits using data packets. Analog voice signals are digitized, sent in discreet packets to the destination, reassembled and reverted back to analog signals. By using Internet telephony, one can place long-distance calls free of telephone charges. The catch is that both parties must have Internet telephony software. If Internet telephony is used to call a land-line or cell phone, charges apply, though they are usually minimal.

BA401 II-4 Telecommunications

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