Communications technology industry always evolving
If you carry anything that allows someone to find you wherever you are, if you enjoy an evening at home watching television or listening to the radio or if you work or play on the Internet, you are a consumer of the huge communications technology industry that literally touches every aspect of our busy lives.
The communications technology industry is responsible for closed-circuit and cable television equipment; studio audio and video equipment; light communications equipment; transmitters, transceivers and receivers (except household and automotive); cellular radio telephones; fiber optics equipment; communication antennas; receivers; RF power amplifiers; satellite communications systems (space and ground segments) and fixed and mobile radio systems.
The industry is one of constant re-invention that contains a variety of sometimes-competing technologies and tools. Consumer trends, regulations, technological advances and corporate decisions play a large role in determining what products are available and when. Recent years have seen tremendous growth in wireless technology services, mobile communications equipment and satellite communication.
The history of the communications technology industry is an interesting one, characterized by a frequent shedding of old technologies and the invention of new technologies. One of the early industry leaders, Motorola, began in the car radio business and sold walkie-talkies to the Army during World War II. Actually, many of the companies in this category have been defense contractors like Motorola, also the first company to install radios in police cars.
When cell phones were first introduced in the early 1980s, another industry giant, AT&T, predicted that by the year 2000 there would be 900,000 mobile phones in use nationwide. By 1993, that number had been exceeded more than a dozen times. The 1990s also saw the advent of cordless phones in the home and office.
When AT&T’s dominant market position was challenged in 1969 by a company that would become MCI Communications Corporation, the market began to open up for even more new technologies and services. Complete restructuring of the industry followed in 1984 with the break-up of the communications technology monopoly.
The rapidly developing wireless technology fed the demand for radio base station equipment, antennas, satellite systems and wireless tools for home and work. Some prognosticators predicted that the shift to wireless technology would rival the previous century’s shift from gas to electric light.
The Telecommunications Competition and Deregulation Act of 1996 also had a strong impact on the radio and electronics field. It eliminated monopolies in cable television and telephone companies, opening fields traditionally regulated as public utilities to competition.
More change was brought about by the Clinton administration’s technology-friendly plan that forced the Pentagon and other federal agencies to cede control of a big block of the nation’s airwaves, thus making them available for new commercial technologies.
Innovations during the late 1990s included two-way paging, whereby e-mail could be sent and received from pagers equipped with tiny keyboards, and what had been called a mobile answering machine that allowed the sender to leave a voice message for the receiver. In 1999, stocks began to be traded via these new smart pagers. By the early 2000s, pagers also had become Web-enabled. Communication technology firms became a hot ticket on Wall Street in the early part of this century.
Because of excitement surrounding the idea of a national “information superhighway” and growth in new communications technologies, companies in this industry were keenly watched by Wall Street. By early 2003, it was estimated that anywhere from 50 to 60 percent of the U.S. population owned wireless phones. As the number of potential new users dwindled, this saturation led to heavy competition among service providers. That competition was fueled with the FCC’s decision to allow cell phone users to retain their phone numbers when switching providers.
Personal digital assistants and phones capable of digital imaging have experienced especially strong growth in recent years. The wireless application protocol – a technical standard that linked cell phones and handheld computers to the Internet – makes it possible for professionals to be freed from their desktop computers to stay abreast of the latest news or transactions. It is expected that use of wireless communication equipment will grow to nearly 60 percent of the U.S. population by 2007.
The communications technology industry employed 159,441 workers in 2000, including more than 76,000 production workers. Mergers of the large corporate players could result in a decline in numbers in the coming years. v
Mary Paulsell is the director of operations at the University Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her e-mail address is [email protected]