David Steen presentation at Abat Oliba University about the evolution of the telecom technology and the telecom industry.
VII Society of Communications Technology Consultants International conference at Barcelona during MWC24
4. Divestiture
1984 AT&T is split into 7 regional Bell
operating companies
• NYNEX
• Pacific Telesis
• Ameritech
• Bell Atlantic
• Southwestern Bell
• BellSouth
• US West
AT&T still controls local and long distance
telephone service.
https://technologizer.com/2011/03/20/att-
25. Long Distance
In 1982, AT&T filed for, and received, tariffs to lease digital data transport services under the High
Capacity Terrestrial Digital Facility or Tariff No. 270. AT&T had finally decided to make available to its
corporate customers a technology that it had been using internally since 1962 and had been making
available to the Defense Department since 1957. 1 To much of the world this decision came as a surprise.
But for those in the know, it was inevitable, both because of the overwhelming economics of digital
transmission as well as the pressures of market competition.
The basic digital transmission carrier or circuit, known as T-1 (or T1), transmits 1.544 megabits per second
(Mbit/s). Channel banks, also called channel service units, interleaved twenty-four 64 thousand bit per
second (Kbit/s) sub-channels into the T-1 circuit. The 64 Kbit/s sub-channel, or DS-0 channel, was the then
standard voice grade channel; also equivalent to the 56-Kbit/s data circuit with its additional 8-Kbit/s of
overhead signaling per channel.2 (See Exhibit 11.0 T-1 Circuit with Channel Banks.) In time,
improvements in voice compression would reduce the number of bits required to transmit voice to 8 Kbit/s,
thus making it possible to transmit 192 traditional analog voice circuits over one T-1 circuit.3 The effect
was to dramatically increase the bandwidth of the existing telephone network – after the investment
transforming the analog circuits to digital – and to dramatically reduce the costs of telecommunications. In
January 1984, immediately post-divestiture, AT&T began actively marketing T-1 services under the
product name Accunet T1.5.4
26. Long Distance
In 1982, when AT&T received Tariff No. 270, digital transmission was a proven technology and available
from a growing number of competitors. First there were the Other Common Carriers (OCCs), such as MCI
and Sprint, who were aggressively marketing the advantages of T-1 to corporate customers in hopes of
taking market share from AT&T. Since they were still building out their networks, they could employ
digital technologies immediately, giving them the attacker’s advantage. Second, microwave technologies
were making it easy to build communication networks without burying wire, cable, or optical fiber in the
ground. There were over forty new Digital Transport Service (DTS) microwave licenses submitted to the
FCC by firms wanting to qualify as new common carriers. Third, cable companies, particularly the
metropolitan cable operators, were claiming they could provide digital data and voice communication by-
pass services; by-pass as in eliminating much of the intra-LATA telephone services from the local Bell
Operating Companies. (Intra-LATA services are effectively telephone calls made within one area code –
within one central office (CO) switch - and are considered local calls. Inter-LATA calls are long distance
calls.) Fourth, corporate customers were learning that other new technologies were making it possible to
extend communication networks to reduce costs and increase functionality, such as the claims of the
vendors of broadband LANs that their communication networks could carry data, voice and video,
encompassing entire campus facilities and by-passing the telephone network.
To obtain the advantages of T-1, corporations required equipment to multiplex their various slow speed
data circuits into the T-1 circuits - for AT&T customers that meant into the DS-O sub-channels of the
channel banks that connected to the T-1 circuits. That piece of equipment, a T-1 multiplexer, created both
wonderful new economic opportunities for the existing multiplexer companies and, in time, dire
consequences for those companies that did not act, or respond appropriately.
49. Climate Change
If something is existential, it has to do with
human existence.
Definitions of existential
1. Adjective relating to or dealing with existence
(especially with human existence)
2. Adjective of or as conceived by existentialism “an
existential moment of choice”
3. Adjective derived from experience or the experience
of existence
"Existential." Vocabulary.com Dictionary, Vocabulary.com,
https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/existential. Accessed 01
Jan. 2024.
50. Climate Change
•How the "Global Cooling" Story
Came to Be
•Nine paragraphs written for
Newsweek in 1975 continue to trump
40 years of climate science. It is
a record that has its author
amazed
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-global-
cooling-story-came-to-be/
51. Climate Change
• Climate change is happening. Global average temperature
has increased about 1.8°F from 1901 to 2016.1 Changes of
one or two degrees in the average temperature of the
planet can cause potentially dangerous shifts in climate
and weather. These real, observable changes are what we
call climate change impacts because they are the visible
ways that climate change is affecting the Earth. For
example, many places have experienced changes in
rainfall, resulting in more floods, droughts, or intense
rain, as well as more frequent and severe heat waves.
• The planet's oceans and glaciers have also experienced
changes—oceans are warming and becoming more acidic, ice
caps are melting, and sea level is rising. As these and
other changes become more pronounced in the coming
decades, they will likely present challenges to our
society and our environment.
https://www.epa.gov/climatechange-science/impacts-climate-
change
52. Climate Change
• Climate change impacts our health, environment, and economy. For example:
• Warmer temperatures increase the frequency, intensity, and duration of
heat waves,2 which can pose health risks, particularly for young children
and the elderly.
• Climate change can also impact human health by worsening air and water
quality, increasing the spread of certain diseases, and altering the
frequency or intensity of extreme weather events.3
• Rising sea level threatens coastal communities and ecosystems.4
• Changes in the patterns and amount of rainfall, as well as changes in the
timing and amount of stream flow, can affect water supplies and water
quality and the production of hydroelectricity.5
• Changing ecosystems influence geographic ranges of many plant and animal
species and the timing of their lifecycle events, such as migration and
reproduction.6
• Increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such
as heat waves, droughts, and floods, can increase losses to property,
cause costly disruptions to society, and reduce the affordability of
insurance.7
53. Climate Change
• Elevated concentrations of carbon dioxide will persist
in the atmosphere for hundreds or thousands of years, so
the earth will continue to warm in the coming decades.
The warmer it gets, the greater the risk for more severe
changes to the climate and the earth's system. Although
it's difficult to predict the exact impacts of climate
change, what's clear is that the climate we are
accustomed to is no longer a reliable guide for what to
expect in the future.
• Adaptation helps us prepare for some of the likely
effects of climate change by reducing their impacts on
ecosystems and people's well-being. Examples of
adaptation include strengthening water conservation
programs, upgrading stormwater systems, developing early
warning systems for extreme heat events, and preparing
for stronger storms through better emergency preparation
and response strategies.