1856 Western Union Telegraph Co. formed

1876 Bell invents telephone

1878 First telephone company formed Positive externality Theodore Vail

1910 Mann-Elkins Act Interstate Commerce Commission First step toward telecom regulation

1911 AT&T began to buy local companies Sherman Antitrust Act to prevent monopolies

1913 Kingsbury Commitment

1921 Graham Act Natural monopoly Common carriage Universal access Delivery of information vs. content Growth of Radio

1927 Federal Radio Act Radio Regulation: First Amendment - free speech Telephone: Common Carrier Federal Radio Commission

1934 FCC established

1939-1953 Computers invented - ABC, Mark I, ENIAC, UNIVAC UNIVAC @ GE

1954 IBM introduced Remote Job Entry (RJE)

1956 AT&T Consent Decree Vertically integrated company Not to enter computer and information services business Keep Western Electric a separate subsidiary

1957 Hushaphone: Allowed foreign attachments

1959 FCC approves private microwave communication circuits

1963 MCI files with FCC to provide communication services

1964 SABRE system completed Rand proposed concept of packet switching network

1968 Carterfone Decision Private radio to connect to the telephone network

1969 MCI Decision

1969 ARPANET (Packet Switching Network)

1971 Open Skies Satellites to provide alternative to long distance service from AT&T

1971 Computer Enquiry I FCC decided not to regulate

1972 Ethernet specifications announced

1974 IBM announces System Network Architecture (SNA)

1975 GTE's Telenet: Public Packet Distribution Network (PDN)

1981 Computer Enquiry II Bell system could sell DP services Defined two: Basic: tariffed and regulated Information and signal

1982 MFJ (Modified Final Judgment) 22 BOC 7 RBOC and AT&T

1984 Divestiture. Large users bypass the local network to avoid access charges. Country divided into LATAs (Local Access and Transport Areas)

• Intra-LATA - Local Exchange Carriers (LECs) - BOCs
• Inter-LATA - Interexchange Carriers (IXC) - AT&T, MCI, Sprint

1985-1995 Three changes are key: Huge amounts of extra bandwidth at low marginal cost; New wireless technologies BOCs face competition for local traffic; Demand for enterprise networked computing, Internet, online services and global networks

1996 Bill S.652 focuses on allowing increasing competition in telecommunications, and deregulation of telecommunications services

• It permits the BOCs into long distance.
• BOCs can also get back into manufacturing of products.
• Telephone companies will be able to enter into cable.
• FCC will ensure provision of universal service.
• BOCs and cable providers will be allowed to enter into the alarm services business.
• It will afford greater protection of children and families from obscene programming.
• Spectrum flexibility by broadcasters.
• System of reciprocity for foreign ownership.

1997 The World Trade Organization's Information Technology Agreement came into force July. Under the ITA, participating governments promise to reduce tariffs on information technology products to zero by Jan. 1, 2000. Most telecommunications equipment is covered by the agreement including handsets, faxes, paging receivers, aerials, transmission equipment and fiber optic cables.

1998 On February 5, the World Trade Organization's agreement on basic telecommunications came into force, an accord encompassing 69 countries which promises to liberalize markets accounting for 90 percent of worldwide telecoms revenue.