Telecommunications Career Field Structure
All companies providing telephone service come under regulation by the FCC for interstate rates and services and have been required to follow a uniform system of accounting. State commissions have jurisdiction over intrastate services and rates, and in some instances, local governments have certain regulatory powers.
Companies that provide telephone service can be classified by the types of service they provide. The major suppliers of telephone service are the local telephone service providers, long distance carriers, competitive access providers, cellular providers, and personal communications services (PCS) providers. Some cable TV operators also provide telephone service.
The local telephone service providers are the regional Bell operating companies (the holding companies formed when AT&T divested in 1984). Long distance providers include AT&T, MCI, Verizon, and Sprint.
Cellular services are provided by both local and long distance providers and a multitude of companies that sprung up in the 1980s when the first commercial cellular mobile telephone came out. Cellular providers also include companies that provide paging services.
PCS is a relatively new segment of the industry. PCS is digital, wireless service that allows for more clarity of sound than traditional cellular service. PCS uses microwave frequencies to support portable, wireless voice and data communications. It uses higher frequencies than those used by cellular providers. It also gives the subscriber additional options, such as caller ID and voice mail. PCS may eventually allow people to use one phone for all of their phone needs, with the same phone used in their homes as in their cars or other mobile locations.
Telephone companies are preparing to build networks of cables and other equipment that will allow them to offer cable services, and cable television companies are entering the telephone business. Cox Communications, MediaOne, and Cablevision are some of the cable operators offering phone service to homes and businesses in a growing number of markets.
Laws restrict what type of service a provider can offer, but deregulation should eventually allow a provider to offer more than one type of service. Telephone services soon will be offered by companies that provide a package of services: local, long distance, wireless, wireline, and cable TV.
When a person makes a telephone call using a traditional, noncellular phone, the sound waves of the caller are converted by a transmitter into a pattern of electric waves that travel over a series of wires. The phone receiver getting the call converts the electric waves back into sound.
A local telephone call travels over wires or by radio to a central office. Switching equipment is then used to connect the telephone call to the appropriate phone line. If the local call is to a person served by the same central office as the caller, the call is connected by the central office that serves both parties. However, if the call is to someone served by another central office, the call must travel along a trunk cable that connects numerous central offices. Telephone calls are connected automatically through electrical switches.
Long distance telephone calls can use the same types of wires and cables as local calls. However, the electrical signals used to transmit the sound waves are often not strong enough to carry over tremendous distances. Therefore, long distance telephone lines are equipped with amplifiers that strengthen the signals as they pass along the wires.
With local telephone calls, the wires and cables needed to transmit a call are placed underground or strung along telephone poles. Long distance calls often use radio relay systems to transmit calls via radio waves.
Cellular technology uses radio waves to send and receive sound, data, and picture transmissions. This technology includes cell sites with low-power radio transmitter-receiver units, antennas, and sophisticated computer-controlled call switching systems. When a person makes a call using a cellular phone, voice signals are transmitted to a cell-like base station through an assigned radio or microwave frequency. These stations connect to main switching centers that then connect the caller to the public switched telephone network. Cellular services have changed dramatically since the time of the first cellular phone. Technology now exists that allows cellular phones to be used for two-way paging, conference calls, electronic mail, faxing, and data transmission from a computer.
Today, most telecommunications providers use advanced technology and materials to create their telecommunications infrastructures. These infrastructures are networks of equipment that provide transmission capabilities. In the past, telephone companies relied primarily on twisted pairs of copper wires and manual switching centers. Now, the technology most frequently used for new systems and to upgrade existing systems includes fiber optic equipment, digital telephony switches, satellite and digital microwave transmission systems, and cellular infrastructure equipment.
Changes in equipment have reduced the need for many of the traditional workers in the telephone industry, such as line installers and repairers, telephone operators, and communications equipment technicians. New equipment is more maintenance-free and automated systems have self-diagnosing features that make it possible to detect faults within a system and reroute operations around a trouble spot until it can be fixed.
Deregulation has had limited effect on the telecommunications industry. While businesses have benefited greatly from the increase in competition, the residential customer has yet to see more choices and better prices. Telecommunications companies are also unable to offer universal service, including service to rural and low-income areas, due to some regulations that still exist. The FCC is planning to make changes in the next few years that should allow for more deregulation in keeping with the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The Act, however, has already resulted in a more competitive marketplace, with telecommunications companies investing billions of dollars in new equipment and advanced technology. This will create many new jobs for electrical and electronics engineers, information technology specialists, computer network specialists, and other professionals involved in research and design activities. The challenges are great and the rewards commensurate for recent engineering, technical, and business graduates and seasoned marketing specialists with the abilities to sell and deliver the integrated, multifunctional, data-oriented systems that will support communications now and in the years ahead.