Temporary FCC Exemption Turns Forty
Steve Goodman has been practicing telecommunications law since 1983, when he began working at the Federal Communications Commission. He now represents a wide variety of clients, including telecommunications equipment manufacturers, satellite service providers and international carriers.
I recently had the pleasure of attending the premier of a documentary by a friend of mine called "When Wire was King: The Transformation of Telecommunications."
The documentary tells the fascinating story of the people, policies, and technologies that led to the breakup of AT&T and the introduction of long-distance competition some forty years ago. For those who don't remember, the settlement of the Justice Department's antitrust suit against AT&T was announced in early 1982, and the breakup of AT&T and the local Bell companies — divestiture — occurred on January 1, 1984.
The communications marketplace is significantly different now compared to then. Cellular service has become ubiquitous, the Internet was created, and competition was facilitated for local telephone service through the 1996 Communications Act.