О. В. Фёдорова е. В. Мезина е. В. Хамис английский язык в сфере информационных технологий и коммуникаций учебное пособие

The number of radio broadcasts grew quickly in the 1920s, but there was no regulation of frequency use or transmitter strength. The result was a crowded radio band of overlapping signals. To remedy this, the U.S. government created the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1934 to regulate the spreading use of the broadcast spectrum. The FCC licenses broadcasters and regulates the location and transmitting strength, or range, stations have in an effort to prevent interference from nearby signals.

The FCC and the U.S. government have also assumed roles in limiting the types of business practices in which telecommunications companies can engage. The U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against AT&T Corp., arguing that the company used its monopoly position to stifle competition, particularly through its control over local telephone service facilities. The lawsuit was settled in 1982, and AT&T agreed to disperse its local telephone companies, thereby creating seven new independent companies.

In 1996 the U.S. government enacted the Telecommunications Reform Act to further encourage competition in the telecommunications marketplace. This legislation removed government rules preventing local and long-distance phone companies, cable television operators, broadcasters, and wireless services from directly competing with one another. The act spurred consolidation in the industry, as regional companies joined forces to create telecommunications giants that provided telephone, wireless, cable, and Internet services.