Ethical and Regulatory Issues Facing the Telecommunications Industry

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Ethical and Regulatory Issues Facing the Telecommunications Industry President Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 into law in February 1996. The law modified earlier legislation, primarily the Communications Act of 1934. The legislation regulates broadcasting by over-the-air television and radio stations, cable television operators, satellite broadcasters, wireline telephone companies (local and long distance) and wireless telephone companies. The general intention of the Act was deregulation and competition. The Act removed barriers between telecommunications companies, thus fostering competition. The deregulation was also intended to offer consumers a choice in local phone service. By 1999, 98% of homes had no choice in local service (Wikipedia, 2005). Passage of the Act resulted in several mergers including AT&T's purchase of TCI Corporation, the merger between Bell Atlantic and NYNEX, the merger between Qwest and US West, the merger between SBC and AT&T, and the merger between Sprint and Nextel. The purpose of this document is to discuss regulatory issues facing the telecommunications industry. In this document, we will discuss a list of best practices in the telecommunications industry used to address regulatory issues, best practices used in other industries to address regulatory issues and how best practices are adjustable to solve regulatory issues other industries. Regulatory Issues The goals of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 included deregulation of the telecommunications sector and increased competition. The Act did deregulate the sector and increase competition, but the Act created regulatory issues. The regulatory issues include but are not limited to compliance issues, organizational issues and... ... middle of paper ... ... Deal? Done! Retrieved October 23, 2005, from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/11/tech/main660486.shtml Communication Workers of America (2005). Sprint Local Telephone Spin-Off. Retrieved October 23, 2005, from http://cwa-union.aflcio.ga0.org/sprint/page.jsp?itemID=27269619 Loube, R. (2003). Universal service: How much is enough? Journal of Economic Issues, 37(2), 433-440. Mercer Corporation (2005). Merger and acquisition integration strategy. Retrieved October 23, 2005, from http://www.mercerhr.com/service/details.jhtml;jsessionid=ADGI00GQ2AVY2CTGOUGCHPQKMZ0QYI2C?idContent=1000340 Networkworld (2005). Sprint/Nextel was the easy one. Retrieved October 22, 2005, from http://www.networkworld.com/weblogs/wan/009706.html Wikipedia (2005). Telecommunications Act of 1996. Retrieved October 23, 2005, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996

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