Beginning of Mobile Phone Systems

Starting about 1982, mobile phones got their start in the marketplace. The FCC granted two licenses (known as the A and B blocks) in each market to operate mobile phone systems. The RBOCs, rich with cash, quickly gobbled up a license in each market; however, they were prohibited from monopolizing through a stipulation that the other license in each market had to be allocated to a non-RBOC company (initially long-distance providers were also prohibited).

Companies such as Cellular One sprung up and began to offer mobile phone services in competition with the RBOCs. This was perhaps the first credible competition for local phone services, even though at the time, mobile phone services were perceived as a luxury for use in your car, not really at home. With handsets the size and weight of a brick, the word luxury was kind of a stretch.

But over the next few years, cellular phones went digital, as did the mobile systems themselves. By 1995, there were approximately 25 million wireless subscribers, compared with roughly 160 million wired phone subscribers. Just a year earlier, the FCC began allocating up to six additional licenses (known as the PCS A, B, C, D, E, and F blocks) in each market, again with restrictions on the RBOCs, but this time allowing the long-distance providers to throw their hats into the ring. AT&T lunged at the opportunity (AT&T Wireless) as did Sprint (Sprint PCS), while the others curiously sat on the sidelines.

The wireless phone system was built to be interconnected with the wired phone system so that calls can be connected back and forth between them. Wireless systems generally have the same kinds of elements as wired systemsswitches, handsets, and gateways to other systems such as the PSTN