Summary

In an age of platforms, apps, and streaming services, telecommunications policy has a distinctly antiquated ring. Conventionally associated with POTS—plain old telephone systems—telecommunications policy, some might say, is decidedly not about PANS—pretty awesome new stuff. However, both POTS and PANS depend on a global infrastructural backbone of fiber optic cables, satellites, spectrum, and networks to bring the digital age to people’s homes, offices, and mobile phones. As such, telecommunications policy—defined as the governance of electronic communication network infrastructures—is a crucial aspect of understanding the media climate in the early 21st century.

Telecommunications policymaking exists at the international, national, regional, and local levels. Internationally, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which began life as the International Telegraph Union, was founded in 1865 as the global body responsible for telegraph standards and regulations, especially around network interconnection. It was renamed in 1932 and, in the early 21st century, focuses its energies on standards and spectrum allocation and a host of related matters. At the international level, in addition to the ITU, the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund have encouraged certain telecommunications policies. Regionally, the European Commission sets a great deal of telecommunications policies for members of the European Union. Nationally, specific nation-states, through appointed agencies like the Federal Communications Commission in the United States, regulate telecommunications within their respective borders. Some nation-states, like the United States, have also delegated aspects of telecommunications policymaking to sub-national governments, like states, whose public utility commissions have jurisdiction over intrastate phone networks and providers. Private providers shape telecommunications policy at each of these levels as well.

Telecommunications policy is irrevocably and inextricably connected to the technologies that define modern communication networks. As a result, telecommunication policy issues span both time and technologies. Said differently, many seminal telecommunications policy issues are cyclical: Issues discussed in the early 20th century continue to be of import in the early 21st century, but newer policies have come to incorporate modern technologies as well (e.g., broadband). Considering the importance of these policy consistencies, five key telecommunications policy issues have transcended time and technology: Ownership, Common Carriage, Interconnection, Universal Service, and Spectrum Allocation.

The United States is somewhat of an outlier in telecommunications policy. From the outset of telecommunications networking, it bucked the trend of public provision and opted instead for private networks. This is in contrast to Europe and some parts of Latin America and Japan, which locate their telecommunications origins in government. Given this unique history and its decades-long push for telecommunications deregulation through organizations like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization, the United States offers an insightful case study to explore the five telecommunications policy issues that transcend time and technology: Ownership, Common Carriage, Interconnection, Universal Service, and Spectrum Allocation.