The Essential Guide to Telecommunication, 6th Edition

Preface

When The Essential Guide to Telecommunications was first published in 1997, broadband and cellular networks were many times less complex. Voice calls were carried separately from data traffic, and e-mail required arcane commands and was used mostly at universities. The federal government had recently deregulated telecommunications and opened it to competitors. Deregulation opened voice and data networks to new competitors. These competitors competed with established providers for subscribers by offering lower prices. This competition drove innovation and resulted in the build-out of high-speed fiber-optic networks. Large incumbents responded with their own network improvements and lowered prices. A similar pattern occurred in cellular ...