1999 Volume 22 Issue 3 Pages 37-44
Recently, Telecommunications Act of 1996 was enacted in the U.S. It revises Communications Act of 1934 so much. Before then, the Communications market of the U.S. was restricted by the two frameworks; Communications Act of 1934 and Consent Decree of 1982. However, these frameworks obsolesced, as the environment surrounding telecommunications has changed drastically. The new act will be the new framework in telecommunications market of the U.S. and it will create the new market environment of free competition and promote to develop global businesses.
Telecommunications services in the U.S. were started in 1870. It is not too much to say that its history has been the one of regulations by the government and common carriers adapting to them, from the beginning of 1900's to the present. In this paper, AT & T, the largest common carrier of telecommunications services in the U.S., is taken up, and its corporate strategies adapting to telecommunications policies by the government, are overviewed historically. Especially, its divestiture of 1984 and spin-off of 1996 are focused, and the strategies from monopoly to competition and its corporate transformations are discussed. Then, it is clarified that AT & T is developing evolutionally through interaction with regulations by the government.
