Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

In the past two years, the United States has participated in two telecommunications agreements and the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") has issued an order which, together, will revolutionize the telecommunications industry, and in particular, the U.S. telephone industry. The Telecommunications Act of 1996, signed by President Clinton on February 8, 1996, allows every telephone company to compete in every market for every customer.' Under the auspices of the World Trade Organization ("WTO"), on February 15, 1997, a global version of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was signed by sixty-nine countries, which will open the world's telephone markets to foreign competition and investment.2 This Agreement then prompted the FCC, on August 7, 1997, to issue an Order adopting different price ceilings for fees paid to complete international calls by long distance companies in the U.S. 3 to foreign carriers.

This Comment attempts to explain how and why the WTO Agreement and the FCC Order will significantly change the global telephone industry. To understand the historical context of these latest innovations, Part II of this Comment discusses the events leading to the creation of the WTO. Part III describes the substantive composition of the WTO Agreement and the FCC Order, outlines the major problems they were designed to address, and explains the specific changes these acts mandate. Finally Part IV analyzes the Agreement and Order and offers an opinion on the probable impact each will have on the telephone industry.

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