The purpose of this paper is to provide a historical account of the May 1985 spread spectrum FCC decision.
The paper presents a case study giving a first‐person account of decision making at the FCC in 1985.
The May 1985 decision did not start as an attempt to bring specific products to market, but as part of a program to remove anachronistic technical regulations and allow a free market in innovative technology, subject only to responsible interference limits.
Research limitations encompass typical limitations of a narrow case study of a historical event.
The paper guides future decision making in telecommunications policy.
The paper reflects the path of deregulation in the 1980s resulting in widespread product innovation in the twenty‐first century.
