A. Definition
 

"In a telecommunications context, a telecommunications company that holds itself out to the public for hire to provide communications transmission services. Note: In the United States, such companies are usually subject to regulation by Federal and state regulatory commissions."

B. Transmission
 

"1) The dispatching, for reception elsewhere, of a signal, message, or other form of information; 2) The propagation of a signal, message, or other form of information by any means, such as by telegraph, telephone, radio, television, or facsimile via any medium, such as wire, coaxial cable, microwave, optical fiber, or radio frequency; 3) In communications systems, a series of data units, such as blocks, messages, or frames; 4) The transfer of electrical power from one location to another via conductors."

C. Communication
 

"1) Information transfer, among users or processes, according to agreed conventions; 2) The branch of technology concerned with the representation, transfer, interpretation, and processing of data among persons, places, and machines. Note: The meaning assigned to the data must be preserved during these operations."

 
 
 
 

The Morse system of telegraphy was invented by Samuel Finley Breese Morse in the 1840s.

The first locomotives were introduced in the early 1820s.

The U.S. Postal Service, with the help of Congress, was established in 1775.

Telephone companies, such as AT&T, compete as common carriers.