25 Years of Communications Competition

1987

PHONE+ (now Channel Partners) launches.
TCG and N.J. Bell strike the nations first competitive interconnection and colocation agreement.
Association for Local Telecommunications Services (ALTS) is formed.
DSL is introduced.
Microsoft releases Windows 2.0.
Unemployment: 6.2%
After working for 58 hours, rescuers in Midland, Texas, lift 18-month-old “Baby Jessica” McClure out of the 22-foot deep well in her backyard.|
Oliver North, Jr. testifies before Congress in the Iran-Contra hearings.

1988

MFS Communications is founded.
SP Construction, a subsidiary of Southern Pacific Railroad is founded to lay fiber along railroad lines; the company later becomes Qwest Communications.
The National High-Performance Computer Technology Act is introduced by Al Gore.
Gallon of gas: $.96
CDs outsell vinyl records for the first time.
The U.S. stealth bomber is unveiled.

Looking for more? Click here for our slide show on the winners and losers in technology from the past 25 years.

1989

NYPSC orders the nations first interconnection ruling with virtual colocation.”
Tim Berners-Lee at CERN develops the World Wide Web, although it’s a few more years before the initiative is refined.
America Online, or AOL, is born.
Dennis Patrick resigns as the FCC chairman and Alfred Sikes is named as the successor.
A protest by Chinese students culminates in their takeover of Tiananmen Square.
After 28 years, the Berlin Wall is opened, reuniting East and West Germany.
A 6.9 magnitude earthquake strikes San Francisco during warm-up for the third game of the World Series.

1990

Illinois Commerce Commission issues first physical colocation/interconnection order
Cisco Systems Inc. goes public.
Archie, the first-ever search engine, is developed at McGill University.
Gallon of gas: $1.217
Iraqi troops invade Kuwait, setting off the Persian Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm).
Left-handed 4-year-old Stefani Germanotta begins to learn to play the piano. In 1999, she will write her first piano ballad, on her way to becoming Lady Gaga.

1991

Ma Bell purchases NCR, announcing plans to enter the computer business.
Congress passes Al Gore’s High Performance Computing Act, creating the National Research and Education Network.
Unemployment: 6.8%
Gallon of gas: $1.196
The Seattle-based band Nirvana releases “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” launching the grunge movement.

1992

Congress passes the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act.
Microsoft releases Windows 3.1.
There are 50 websites worldwide.
British geneticist Alec Jeffreys develops DNA fingerprinting.
A van parked below the north tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six and injuring more than 1,000.

1993

The FCC sees two chairmen resign Alfred Sikes and James Quello and Reed Hundt will head the agency until 1997.
FleetNet becomes Nextel.
MFS Communications builds nationwide ATM network, the first in the country.
Telecom relay service becomes available for disabled callers.
There are 150 websites worldwide.
During an orientation for new students at Stanford, 20-year-old Russian immigrant Sergey Brin meets 20-year-old Larry Page from Lansing, Mich. The two will found Google in 1998.
The cast for Season 6 of “The All-New Mickey Mouse Club” includes 13-year olds Christina Aguilera and Ryan Gosling and 12-year-olds Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.

1994

PHONE+ launches the PHONE+ Super Show.
The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) is signed into law.
AOL goes online.
Yahoo! is created; Amazon.com is incorporated.
There are 3,000 websites worldwide.
Unemployment: 6.1%
Gallon of gas: $1.174
“ER” and “Friends” debut on NBC.

1995

Southern Pacific Telecom is renamed as Qwest Communications International Inc.
Bernie Ebbers’ LDDS becomes WorldCom.
Netscape goes public; Amazon.com goes online.
The Communications Decency Act is introduced.
Unemployment: 5.6%
One hundred and sixty-eight people die in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
“Toy Story,” the first wholly computer-generated movie, is released.

1996

President Clinton signs the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
FCC orders Local Number Portability.
AT&T divests Lucent Technologies.
SBC buys PacTel.
Gallon of gas: $1.288
Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be successfully cloned from an adult cell, is born at the Roslin Institute in Midlothian, Scotland.

1997

PHONE+ turns 10, debuts its website and starts AgENt Expo.
WorldCom buys MCI.
SBC acquires Pacific Telesis.
 Qwest goes public.
Reed Hundt resigns as the FCC chairman and is replaced by William Kennard.
Britain returns Hong Kong to Chinese rule.
Madeleine Albright becomes the first female U.S. Secretary of State.

1998

AT&T acquires Teleport.
SBC acquires SNET, Ameritech.
Bell Atlantic acquires NYNEX, agrees to merge with GTE.
Google is founded.
Sen. John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth, returns to orbit at age 77 in the space shuttle Discovery.
Apple Computer unveils the iMac.

1999

Qwest buys US West.
AOL buys Netscape.
The FCC OKs Bell Atlantic-NYNEX to provide in-region long-distance in New York.
Unemployment: 4.2%
Gallon of gas: $1.221
The first BlackBerry device, the 850, is introduced in Munich, Germany, as a two-way pager.

2000

The FCC permits UNE switching and UNE-P rebundling.
The FCC defines “broadband” as 200KBps.
the tech bubble bursts.
U.S. and European regulators reject the proposed Sprint-WorldCom merger.
Unemployment: 4.0%
Gallon of gas: $1.563

2001

AgENt fair is renamed Channel Partners Conference & Expo.
Vonage is founded and will make service available in 2002.
Comcast acquires AT&T Broadband.
AOL, Time Warner complete their megamerger.
Terrorist attacks kill nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington, D.C. and Shanksville, Pa.
Apple releases the iPod.

2002

The U.S. Supreme Court upholds TELRIC pricing.
The U.S. District Court rejects the FCC UNE unbundling regime.
WorldCom announces innaccurate posting of $3.85 billion in earnings.
Level 3 buys Genuity.
Unemployment: 5.8%
President George W. Bush creates the Department of Homeland Security.

2003

The FCC issues the Triennial Review order, enshrines UNE-P rules.
Skype is founded to offer free VoIP service (PC-to-PC).
Unemployment: 6.0%
Six months after the U.S. and Britain launch war against Iraq, Saddam Hussein is captured by American troops.

2004

XO buys Allegiance Telecom.
The U.S. District Court overturns FCC Triennial Review rules.
FCC VoIP rules pre-empt state oversight.
On the day after Christmas, an earthquake in the Indian Ocean creates an enormous tsunami that devastates Southeast Asia, killing 200,000 people.
Facebook is launched from Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard dormitory room.

2005

SBC acquires AT&T.
MCI accepts Verizon’s takeover bid.
EarthLink buys New Edge Networks.
The U.S. Supreme Court upholds FCC designation of broadband as an information service.” thus freeing telcos and cablecos from nonaffiliate open access rules.
Google, Microsoft and Yahoo get into Internet telephony.
 Kevin Martin is named the FCC chairman.
Pope John Paul II dies and is succeeded by Benedict XVI.
Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans and other Gulf coast communities, killing more than 1,835 people.

2006

UNE-P ends.
FCC approves the $86 billion AT&T-BellSouth merger.
Verizon completes the MCI merger.
PAETEC buys US LEC.
Level 3 buys Broadwing and SAVVIS’ video assets.
Time Warner Telecom buys Xspedius.
Unemployment: 4.6%
Gallon of gas: $2.635
Pluto is downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planet by The International Astronomical Union.

2007

PHONE+ marks its 20th anniversary.
Channel Partners Conference & Expo turns 10.
Broadview buys InfoHighway.
PAETEC buys McLeodUSA.
Private equity firms buy Alltel.
An FCC order imposes privacy obligations on VoIP.
Ed Whitacre steps down as the head of AT&T and is replaced by Randall Stephenson.
Covad Communications goes private.
Apple introduces the iPhone; AT&T is the exclusive U.S. carrier.
California Democrat Nancy Pelosi becomes the first woman Speaker of the House.

2008

The FCC investigates Comcast for slowing and blocking BitTorrent traffic.
PAETEC, Level 3, AT&T, others enact layoffs as the economy slows.
The federal government auctions off desirable 700MHz wireless spectrum.
Verizon buys Alltel.
Videos are posted on YouTube of 12-year-old Canadian Justin Bieber performing covers of R&B hits.
After 49 years in power, Cuban president Fidel Castro resigns.

2009

Nortel Networks goes bankrupt.
Kevin Martin resigns as the FCC chairman; President Obama names Julius Genachowski as Martin’s successor.
CenturyTel buys Embarq and changes its name to CenturyLink.
Time Warner spins off AOL.
The federal broadband stimulus is put in place and the application frenzy begins.
Unemployment:  9.3%
Gallon of gas: $2.401
After striking a flock of geese, pilot Sully Sullenberger safely lands US Airways flight 1549 in the Hudson River. All 150 passengers and five crew members survive.
Bernard Madoff pleads guilt to 11 counts of fraud, money laundering, perjury and theft.

2010
MegaPath buys Covad and Speakeasy.
EarthLink buys DeltaCom and One Communications.
PAETEC buys Cavalier.
Unemployment: 9.6%
Gallon of gas: $2.836
A 7.0 earthquake devastates Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

2011

CenturyLink buys Qwest.
Windstream buys PAETEC.
Level 3 buys Global Crossing.
Reseller TNCI files Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Motorola splits into two companies; Google buys Motorola Mobility.
AT&T seeks to buy T-Mobile but is thwarted by FCC at the end of the year, putting the deal in jeopardy.
The “Arab Spring” political protest movement starts in Egypt and soon spreads to Bahrain, Libya, Syria and Yemen.
Steve Jobs dies.

2012

Channel Partners turns 25.
London becomes the first city in history to host the Olympic Games three times.
The Mars Science Laboratory and Curiosity rover are scheduled to land on Mars.

Looking for more? Click here for our slide show on the winners and losers in technology from the past 25 years.