ABSTRACT
More than other sectors of a nation’s economy, telecommunications operates through a unique melding of technology, economics, and policy. At the most basic level, telephone, wireless or radio communication, and Internet connectivity all rely on technology. All forms of telecommunication involve a message, a sender, and a receiver that utilize telecommunications transmission. There are many variations in this transmission process—telephone networks and data networks may move, or switch, a message differently; and messages may be sent over narrow copper wires or over larger capacity fiber optic cables or through the air. Each mode operates under fundamental principles, and a basic knowledge of these is needed to understand how a telephone call takes place, or a byte of data moves through a network, or an Internet connection is made.
