ABSTRACT
The telephone industry reaches nearly 95.1 percent of all U.S. homes and touches virtually all phases of U.S. consumer and business activity. The term common carrier is used to describe those companies engaged in the business of message delivery on a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint basis. Common carriers offer their service on a nondiscriminatory basis to anyone who is willing to pay for it. In principle, they do not interfere with the content of the message. Common carriers are regulated by appropriate state or federal agencies.
