telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) (03/03/91)
Thomas F. Carter, the enterpreneur who won a major landmark lawsuit against AT&T is dead at age 67. Mr. Carter died February 23 of lung cancer at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, TX. TELECOM Digest readers will no doubt recall that Tom Carter patented the CarterFone in 1959, and as 'they' say, the rest is history. The Carterfone was a device which connected telephones with two-way radio systems. Although greatly improved upon over the past thirty years, the Carterfone is still in use by many people. Soon after his invention, AT&T threatened to discontinue service to customers who used CarterFone, prompting Mr. Carter to sue Ma Bell. It took several years to resolve, but in 1968 a federal judge ruled in his favor, and the next year, MCI became the first private company to hook its long-distance network into local phone service. In fact, as just another Chicago-area bit of trivia, MCI's first links were between Chicago and St. Louis. MCI finally was able to get IBT and SWBT to agree to the connection after much negotiation. By about 1971, MCI had begun its first public offering, "Execunet". Once his lawsuit had been settled, Mr. Carter went on to found the North American Telecommunications Association in Washington, DC. He also served as president of NATA. He is survived by his wife, Helen; two daughters and four grandchildren. Services were held in Mabank this past week. NATA is considering a memorial service in the future to honor Thomas Carter. Another era passes .... PAT