
          KEY MILESTONES OF TELEPHONE INDUSTRY EVOLUTION


     1790      Optical telegraph system established in France

     1819      Electricity/magnetism relation discovered
               Magnetic needle telegraph operated

     1845      Telegraph link Washington DC/Baltimore

     1858      Submarine telegraph---Ireleand/Newfoundland

     1876      U.S. Pat. No. 174456 to A.G. Bell for telephone

     1877      First bBell telco formed

     1878      3,000 phones in service
               First telephone directory published--New Haven, CT.
               First switchboard---New Haven, CT.

     1880      Emma N. Nut--1st AT&T woman employee

     1882      First underground cable

     1885      Bell wins Elisha Gray patent suit
               AT&T formed

     1889      U.S. Pat. No. 447918 to Almon B. Strowger for automatic
                    telephone switchboard
               First public paystation--Hartford, CT.

     1892      First automatic switchboard--La Porte, IN

     1895      Telephone traffic study published

     1896      First telephone dial--Milwaukee, WS

     1900      855,900 phones in service

     1905      First unattended automatic telephone office
               2,241,000 phones in service

     1907      First Public Utility Commission authority for telephone
                    Wisconsin

     1913      Kingsbury Commitment--Bell agrees to connect with
                    Independents and no more acquisitions
               One piece telephone handsets (Independents only)

     1915      First transcontinental call NYC (Bell) to San Francisco
                    (Watson)

     1918      First carrier system--several voice channels over one
                    pair wires
               Bell purchases 1st automatic switchboard--Norfolk, VA

     1920      First automatic toll board

     1924      15 million phones in service


     1925      Bell Labs formed

     1926      First radio telegraph
               Colored telephones (Independents)

     1930      Data transmitted 600 bits per second on phone lines

     1934      U.S. Federal Communications Act--FCC established
               Bell offers one piece handset

     1940      Coaxial cable (increases voice channels)

     1947      Transistor demonstrated by Bell Labs

     1948      First national automatic toll billing system
               First No. 5 crossbar--Media, PA

     1949     U.S. Federal REA amended to include rural telephone
                    systems financing

     1953      50 million phones in service

     1955      Bell offers colored phones

     1956      WE consent decree settlkes Justice antitrust suit--Bell
                   limited to furnishing common carrier communications
               U.S. Appeals Court rules subscribers may purchase and
                   connect Hush-A-Phone to telco lines
               First transatlantic telephone cable
               First radio microwave telephone service

     1958      Data Phone service introduces(Hi-speed over telephone
                    lines)
               Data transmitted 1200 bits per second

     1960      First electronic switching system field trial-Morris,IL
               First satellite telephone calls-ECHO

     1962      Telstar satellite launched

     1963      Touch Tone dialing offered

     1964      All digit numbering permitted by FCC

     1965      FCC challenges and investigates AT&T interstate rates
                    and earnings
               Early Bird satellite launched(1st communications
                    satellite)
               Satellite service USA-Europe

     1966      Data transmited 4800 bits per second

     1968      Private ownership of subscriber terminals permitted
                    by FCC

     1971      FCC approved specialized common carriers

     1972      First commercial electronic switching systems(analog)

     1974      AT&T established Belll System Purchased Products Div.--
                    Market opened to general trade suppliers

     1975      Data transmitted  at 56,000 bits per second

     1976      First commercial digital electronic switching system

     1977      First optical fiber transmission link in commercial
                    service(GTE-CA)
               FCC Docket 19528 decision--interconnect without \
                    couplers--registration

     1978      Common Channel Intertoll Signaling in service

     1979      FCC Docket 20828(Computer II)decision announced--
                    deregulate all terminals
               U.S. Court awards $1.8 billioin damage suit to MCI for
                    AT&T antitrust actions
     1980      ACTS(Auto Coin Telephone System)
               Telcos reorganize to meet unregulated competition
               175 million phones--USA: 450 million phones--worldwide

     1981      Japanese telcom market opens to international
                    competition

     1982      Verdict in U.S. antitrust suit against AT&T

     1983      Deregulation of all terminal equipment deadline

     198?      U.S. Federal Communications Act 1934 rewrite passed
               Appeal verdict MCI/AT&T antitrust judgment

     1989      Transatlantic fiber optics transmission link in
                    operation

     199?      Telephony is part of the information age


