Network Operators
– AT&T and the Baby Bells
Infrastructure- and Device Manufacturers
– Ericsson and SRA 
– Siemens
– TeKaDe Philips
– Motorola
Semiconductor Industry
– Texas Instruments
– Philips Semiconductors
– Motorola Semiconductors
– Intel

First Mobile Telecom Industry

Network Operators

Most countries had a monopoly on telecommunications services. These were the PTTs (Post, Telegraph and Telephone) of the individual countries. The situation was different in the USA, where telecommunications services were operated by private companies. Here there was above all AT&T Bell System, which had a quasi monopoly on telecommunications.

AT&T and the Baby Bells

The long distance network was owned by AT&T and they operated all the local telephone utilities. Furthermore they also manufactured their own equipment, from switching technology to telephone sets through Western Electric, which was fully owned by AT&T. Therefore AT&T had a total monopoly. They also „owned“ the early car telephone systems MTS and IMTS. The „allowed“ players like Motorola to build equipment but they saw mobile telephony as their business, as am extension of the telephone network. Motorola and other companies were afraid, that AT&T would also „own“ the upcoming cellular telephony. This was e.g. one of the reasons why the famous engineer from Motorola Marty Cooper build the first handheld mobile phone in 1973 just to show that it is not just AT&T who can build telephone systems. This and other pushes from the industry called the American authorities into action. They also claimed that AT&T was cross-subsidizing its network through revenues in the production of infrastructure. This process dragged on for a long time since AT&T was trying hard to keep the monopoly. However it ended in the breakup of AT&T. This was completed in 1984. From now on, the operation of the telephone networks was managed by 7 companies (they were called Baby Bells even though each Baby bell was as big as a European Operator). AT&T was left only with the long distance network. The companies that emerged were:

• Ameritech
• Bell Atlantic
• BellSouth
• NYNEX
• Pacific Telesis
• Southwestern Bell
• US West

Infrastructure and Device Manufacturer

Ericsson and SRA

Ericsson had retreated almost exclusively to the Swedish market during World War II. After the war, it revived the old connections in Europe and worldwide and concentrated on automatic switching equipment, as it had before the war. Here Ericsson was able to further expand its leading position. In parallel with AT&T, Ericsson also made the early transition to the digital age of the telephone, for example by introducing PCM and TDMA transmission of voice. Finally, Ericsson developed state-of-the-art computerized telephone networks in the 1970s and 1980s. The most important product here was the AXE Switch.

Ericsson was also indirectly active in radio communications. In 1919, Ericsson founded Svenska Radioaktiebolaget (SRA) with some Swedish partners and the English Marconi Company. From 1927 Ericsson held the majority of this company. SRA initially built radios called Radi0la. Like many other electronics companies, SRA built electronics, especially radio and radar for the Swedish military.

In the fifties and sixties, SRA built the first car phones. This was similar to the American or German systems in the 160 MHz band. It was operated by the Swedish Televerket and was simply called MTA (Mobile Telephone A). Later, telephones were also built for MTB which corresponded to the German B-Netz or IMTS. Thus SRA gained experience in building cell phones.

Siemens

Siemens was excluded from the international market during the war. Even after the war, Siemens initially focused on the German market. The focus was on automatic switching and transmission technology. In this area, it supplied the German postal service. Siemens was not active in the radio sector at first. It was not until the early 1980s that Siemens worked on the specification of a cellular network and was then also commissioned by the Post Office to define Germanies first Cellular Network, the C-Network.

Tekade/Philips

The TeKaDe company in Nuremberg was already working on electronics before the war, especially on radio and television technology. Before the war, TeKaDe built cables for telecommunications but also amplifier systems for the trunk lines. They were also leaders in the development of carrier technology with which a large number of calls could be carried through one line by modulation (FDMA). Here they cooperated with AEG. After the war, TeKaDe collaborated with Philips in the Netherlands on carrier technology and succeeded in developing a system with 60 carriers. Through this experience in RF technology, it was possible to build the first mobile radio systems in Germany, especially the terminals (A-Netz and B-Netz). In 1982 TeKaDe was taken over by Philips and renamed Philips Kommunikations Industrie (PKI). Along with Siemens, it was one of the main suppliers to the German Federal Post Office.

Motorola

Motorola was already the leading manufacturer of radio equipment before the war. For example, they built two way radios for police and fire departments, and developed wartime voice radios such as the famous SCR-536 handset. So it was natural that Motorola also supplied the first car phones for Bell System/AT&T’s MTS and IMTS system. In the early seventies, Motorola felt threatened by AT&T’s superiority, believing that for the future cellular mobile radio system AMPS, AT&T with Western Electric would get the monopoly. They therefore created the first handset for cellular radio which they demonstrated in New York as early as 1973. This prototype later became the legendary DynaTEC 8000 telephone.

Semiconductor Industry

The early post-war period was still dominated by tube technology. All large electronics companies also owned tube manufacturing companies. 1947 the transistor was invented but Bell Labs was not allowed to build transistors. Therefore Bell Labs granted cheap licenses for the production of transistors. Many electronics companies acquired licenses for transistors and built their own production facilities.

Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments was founded in 1952 and acquired a license to build transistors early on. From 1954 transistors could be produced and supplied successfully. In 1958, the IC was invented and further developed by Jack Kilby in parallel with developments at Fairchild. Thus Texas Instruments became the prominent manufacturer for integrated circuits in the seventies. Large drivers of the income from TI came from military and space travel. TI also became known in the seventies for the production of the first electronic pocket calculators. In the early eighties, TI built the first available digital signal processors.

Philips Semiconductors

Philips had its own tube production, also through the company VALVO in Hamburg/Germany. In parallel, however, they also started to build transistors. This was done mainly through production facilities in Nijmegen. In 1975 Philips bought the American semiconductor company Signetics and became a player in integrated circuits. Signetics was famous for its timer circuits. Signetics was founded in 1961 by engineers from Fairchild. With the purchase of Signetics, Philips briefly became the second largest semiconductor manufacturer in the world.

1984 Philips was making a Joint Venture with the a company called ASM (Advanced Semiconductor Material) in Eindhoven. This company is called ASML (Advanced Semiconductors Material Lithography. This company became the dominating company for the production of Integrated Circuits and is now the leader in the World.

Motorola Semiconductors

Motorola created its own semiconductor division early on. It focused early on microprocessors in particular. So they built their first microprocessor, the MC6800, as early as 1974. This was only three years after Intel’s 4004 and only one year after the introduction of the 8008, Intel’s first 8 bit computer. By 1974 Motorola’s semiconductor division was second only to Texas Instruments.

Intel

Intel was founded in 1968. Intel’s main business was initially memory ICs. Two of the three founders, Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce had already been founders of Fairchild. Robert Noyce was the inventor of the IC. So their first product was a 64 bit memory. Intel became famous when it built the first microprocessor, the 4004, in 1971. Thus processors became a second main pillar of Intel.