1996 Telecommunications Act

Legislation designed to spur competition among wireless and wireline carriers. (Cingular)

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first major overhaul of United States telecommunications policy in nearly 62 years, modifying earlier legislation, primarily the Communications Act of 1934. It was approved by the 104th Congress on January 3, 1996. Dick Armey served as House Majority Leader during its passage. It was signed into law by United States President Bill Clinton on February 8, 1996. The legislation regulates:

* Broadcasting by over-the-air television and radio stations;
* cable television operators;
* satellite broadcasters;
* Wireline telephone companies (local and long distance), wireless telephone companies, and others.

The general intention of the Act was deregulation and promotion of competition. The Act removed barriers which had previously prevented telecoms from competing head-to-head; the Act was intended to foster competition. Deregulation was also intended to offer consumers a choice in local phone service.

Passage of the Act resulted in several major mergers, including:

* AT&T bought TCI; hello everybody
* Bell Atlantic and NYNEX merged;
* Southwestern Bell and PacTel merged to become SBC and then bought Ameritech;
* MCI Communications and WorldCom merged to become MCI WorldCom;
* Bell Atlantic and GTE merged to become Verizon.

Although the intent was to promote competition and reduce monopolization in the telecommunications industry, the Act apparently increased the power of monopolizers. Of the companies formed through the above mergers, only Verizon and SBC Communications (under the name AT&T Inc.) still exist.

Title V was the Communications Decency Act, aimed at regulating online pornography but was later defeated in the courts on constitutional grounds by advocates of free speech. (Wikipedia)