Communications service provider

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A communications service provider or CSP is a service provider that transports
information electronically�for example, a telecommunications service provider. The
term encompasses public and private companies in the telecom (landline and
wireless), Internet, cable, satellite, and managed services businesses.

The market in which a communications service provider specializes is often a

function of the industry served. These industries can be divided into three
categories: telecommunications, entertainment and media, and Internet/Web services.
Some communications service providers have branched into multiple areas. Others
provide communications services across all major categories.

The term CSP came into vogue in the late 1990s. Prior to this time, communications
businesses were highly specialized, with little overlap between traditional
telecom, cellular, cable, and Internet companies. In the 1990s, deregulation (in
the US, the Telecom Act of 1996) and technology convergence began to cause massive
upheaval in the industry. As companies began to offer broader portfolios of
communications services, traditional categories were inadequate to describe service
providers. The term "communications service provider" is now widely accepted as a
broad category encompassing all of these businesses.

See also
Telecommunications service provider

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Telecommunications
History
Beacon Broadcasting Cable protection system Cable TV Communications satellite
Computer network Drums Electrical telegraph Fax Heliographs Hydraulic telegraph
Internet Mass media Mobile phone Optical telecommunication Optical telegraphy Pager
Photophone Prepaid mobile phone Radio Radiotelephone Satellite communications
Semaphore Smartphone Smoke signals Telecommunications history Telautograph
Telegraphy Teleprinter (teletype) Telephone The Telephone Cases Television Undersea
telegraph line Videoconferencing Videophone Videotelephony Whistled language
Telecom-icon.svg
Pioneers
Edwin Howard Armstrong John Logie Baird Paul Baran Alexander Graham Bell Tim
Berners-Lee Jagadish Chandra Bose Vint Cerf Claude Chappe Donald Davies Lee de
Forest Philo Farnsworth Reginald Fessenden Elisha Gray Erna Schneider Hoover
Charles K. Kao Hedy Lamarr Innocenzo Manzetti Guglielmo Marconi Antonio Meucci
Radia Perlman Alexander Stepanovich Popov Johann Philipp Reis Henry Sutton Nikola
Tesla Camille Tissot Alfred Vail Charles Wheatstone Vladimir K. Zworykin
Transmission
media
Coaxial cable Fiber-optic communication Optical fiber Free-space optical
communication Molecular communication Radio waves Transmission line
Network topology
and switching
Links Nodes Terminal node Network switching (circuit packet) Telephone exchange
Multiplexing
Space-division Frequency-division Time-division Polarization-division Orbital
angular-momentum Code-division
Networks
ARPANET BITNET Cellular network Computer CYCLADES Ethernet FidoNet Internet ISDN
LAN Mobile NGN NPL network Public Switched Telephone Radio Telecommunications
equipment Televi