Telecom 150
Should Network-Sharing Rules Reach Big Tech?
Experts revisited AT&T’s 1984 breakup and the 1996 Act for lessons on regulating technology platforms.
Telecom 150
A series of articles highlighting the 35 lessons in Broadband Breakfast's course, "150 Years of American Telecommunications"
Telecom 150
Open Rules and Protocols, Including Section 230, Fuel ‘Permissionless Innovation’
The FCC's expanding 'Covered List' now requires companies to seek government approval, reversing innovation
Telecom 150
Innovation and Competition Anchor America's 150 Year Experiment with Telecommunications
Necessity may be the mother of invention, but who’s the father of competition?
Telecom 150
From the Fairness Doctrine to a Network Sale: The FCC’s Enduring Authority
For 38 years, the FCC required competing views on controversial issues across broadcast programming.
Telecom 150
Broadband Breakfast Updates Oct. 1 Online Conference on America250 / Telecom150
Event will begin at 12 Noon ET, and include two virtual panels, on innovation and competition.
Telecom 150
Lesson 6: The Fairness Doctrine and Public Media
A report from a federal agency told American broadcasters in 1949 to cover controversial public issues and to carry opposing views, and no Congress ever voted that rule into law.
Telecom 150
'Public Interest, Convenience, and Necessity': The 5 Words Behind U.S. Broadcast Licenses
Newton Minow, Kennedy’s FCC chairman, warned in 1961 that broadcasters risked losing their licenses if they neglected educational and other public-service programming.
Telecom 150
Lesson 5: Broadcast Radio and the Public Interest Standard
Telecom 150
After the Titanic Sank, Congress Passed America’s First Major Radio Law
The system worked while radio was dominated by ships and point-to-point communication. Mass broadcasting in the 1920s exposed what Congress had left unresolved.
Telecom 150
Lesson 4: The Origin of Wireless
The Titanic sank in April 1912, Congress required a federal license to transmit four months later, and the Navy seized or shut every private radio station in the country when the country entered the war in 1917.
Telecom 150
While Most Countries Put Telephones Inside the Post Office, America Tried That One Year
Britain held its network 114 years. America's experiment lasted twelve months, ending August 1919.
Telecom 150
Lesson 3: In Other Countries, PTTs (Posts, Telegraph and Telephone)
This lesson asks the comparative question of why the American telephone monopoly stayed in private hands, when most of the world ran its telephones through a government post office.
Telecom 150
The Kingsbury Commitment Promised Competition. AT&T Got 98% of Long Distance
In the illustration, J.P. Morgan is depicted as an Octopus trainer, AT&T President Theodore Vail says 'perfectly abhorrent,' and the dog, representing independent companies, says 'I'm next.'
Telecom 150
What We're Doing With '150 Years of American Telecommunications'
Some personal reflections on the value of looking back over 250 Years of American Independence, and our broadband heritage
Telecom 150
Patent Scope, Not Invention, Decided the American Telephone Market
Bell had 3,000 telephones around Boston, and a patent. Western Union had $40M and every U.S. state. The patent won.
Telecom 150
Broadband Breakfast Course Traces 150 Years of American Telecommunications
Broadband Breakfast CEO previews the 35-lesson course tracing American telecom from Bell's patent to AI. The course launches Monday
