by A. Michael Noll, posted with the permission of the author.

Introduction

This piece is a basic review of the technologies used to provide telecommunication service. The structure of the industry in the United States is also reviewed, along with possible options and issues for the future.

There seems to be an accepted belief that telecommunication has become boring, but the evolving telecommunication landscape – the tele-scape – has many uncertainties and options for the future – it is not boring. The technology is more sophisticated and flexible than ever before. Telecommunication is essential to the planet and its people.

Technology

As much as the technologies of telecommunication advanced and changed, it still basically is about signals – transmitting and switching signals that represent speech, text, data, and video from one place to another – fixed and on the move (mobile). [John R. Pierce & A. Michael Noll, Signals: The Science of Telecommunication, Scientific American Books (New York, NY), 1990.]

Transmission can be terrestrial – landlines utilizing such media as copper in the form of twisted wire pairs and coaxial cable, or optical fiber. Twisted pairs are today mostly obsolete, replaced by coaxial cable and optical fiber.

Transmission can be wireless utilizing radio signals. Wireless can be from one fixed position to another, or mobile in which users roam from place to place. Decades ago, Bell Labs invented cellular wireless in which the user is transferred from one radio tower (cell site) to another while moving about – transferred from one cell to another.

A recent approach is the use of low-orbit satellites for wireless. The user on Earth is relatively stationary and is switched from one satellite to another as the satellites move about in low orbit (at a height of about 340 miles).

These various conduits are an essential component of the tele-scape. The content they carry include spoken voice (plain old fashioned telephony), text (short text messages and email), and video (entertainment and user generated).

Optical fiber and coaxial cable are broadband technologies, although twisted wires can provide a few megahertz bandwidth over short distances. The co-called “cable companies” in the past provided only video content, but today also provide telephone service and Internet data. The telephone companies of the past now deliver entertainment video over their broadband local facilities.

The circuit switching of the past has been replaced by packet switching and the use of the Internet protocol. The analogue world of the past has been replaced by the digital representation of all signals, along with an almost mystical fascination with all things “digital.” In the world of audio, there is an interest in a return to the world of analogue phonograph records. Whether it is analogue or digital, ultimately signals and what they represent is what matters – telecommunication by speech, text, and video.

Structure

In the early 1980s, the old Bell System in the United States was broken apart, as AT&T decided to divest the local telephone companies so that it could manufacture computers. AT&T today is just a brand used by SBC (Southwester Bell). AT&T and Verizon (formerly New Jersey Bell and other local Bell companies) provide mobile cell service and local terrestrial service over optical fiber and wired transmission.

In the past, the local Bell companies attempted to own and provide video entertainment. Conduit and content are very separate businesses with very different management and financial structures. It would not make sense for Disney to own theaters or cable companies. Content and conduit are very different businesses.

Three major carriers provide mobile terrestrial communication in the United States: AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. The mobile phones are manufactured by a host of suppliers, and are frequently bundled with the service. Mobile phones are used for voice and text, but also for Internet access and video – they are called smart phones because they are miniature computers.

Questions and Uncertainties

Video can be provided over the air, utilizing digital technologies. Video can be provided over coaxial cable (cable TV) or optical fiber (FiOS). But increasingly video entrainment content is being obtained over the Internet (video streaming). This creates competition between the cable business and the Internet business, with issues over charging based on content.

In the Unite States, Verizon and AT&T provide trucks and people to repair and install its local infrastructure, be it wireless or optical fiber. Would it make sense to divest the landline (mostly optical fiber) to concentrate on terrestrial wireless? Should terrestrial and satellite wireless be combined? Would a single national terrestrial provider in the United States make sense, if the anti-trust implications could be resolved? How might the industry evolve in the tele-scape future?

Will the current mobile wireless companies using terrestrial technology also provide satellite mobile service? Should current telecommunication companies such as AT&T and Verizon divest their landline businesses, or should their landline business be allowed to combine into a single national company? What are the international implications of all these issues and uncertainties?

Social media and texting services utilize the infrastructure. Should the telecommunication carriers offer these services? At one time in the past, the local Bell carriers acquired a fascination with “Hollywood” and considered creating and providing video entertainment. Will that happen again, and should it be allowed, or does it even make any realistic business sense?

A. Michael Noll, April 24, 2025

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