Essential Guide to Telecommunications, The, Third Edition

Appendix

Table 3.1. Regulatory Highlights

Landmark Acts and Court Rulings	Summary of Acts and Rulings
The Federal Communications Act of 1934	Congress created the Federal Communications Commission and gave it the authority to regulate interstate telephone, radio and telegraph companies.
The 1956 Consent Decree	The Justice Department allowed AT&T to keep its monopoly but restricted it to common carrier functions. The Consent Decree mandated that any patents developed by Bell Labs, then AT&T, be licensed to all applicants requesting them. This led to microwave technology's availability to MCI and the ability of competitive carriers to build long distance networks.
The 1969 MCI Case	The Federal Communications Commission ruled that MCI, then known as Microwave ...