FCC ruling changed phone industry in 1968; it could happen again today

0 Comments | USA TODAY, January, 2007 | by Kevin Maney

Maybe U.S. consumers need another Carterfone to bust open the cellphone industry.

No, this is not referring to some hotline on Jimmy Carter's White House desk. ("Mr. President, Brezhnev's on the Carterfone yet again. Something about Prince Albert in a can.")

The landmark 1968 Carterfone Decision is a "neat historical analogy" to a couple of current conflagrations in technology, says J.P. Auffret, professor at George Mason University's business school.

One should alter cable TV this year. The other might result in cellphones that work with any wireless carrier -- the way any telephone works no matter what company you use for landline service.

Kevin Martin, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, sounds gung-ho about pushing for...