The United States Telecom Association (USTelecom) is an organization that represents telecommunications-related businesses based in the United States. As a trade association, it represent the converged interests of the country's telecommunications industry. Member companies represent a diverse set of communications-related businesses, including those that provide wireless, Internet, cable television, long distance, local exchange, and voice services. Members include large publicly traded communications carriers as well as small telephone cooperatives that serve only a few hundred customers in urban and rural areas. The organization was founded as the Independent Telephone Association of America in 1897, and represented the telecommunication industry of North America that was not affiliated with the Bell System led by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T). History The United States Telecom Association (USTelecom) was founded in Chicago, Illinois, on May 17, 1897, when a group of independent telephone company executives convened at the Palmer House to create an organization called the Independent Telephone Association. After the 1894 expiration of Alexander Graham Bell's principal telephone patent, thousands of independent telephone companies sprouted in the telephone industry in the last decade of the 19th century. These companies organized to promote growth of their industry and develop alliances on issues that crossed state lines. Renamed as the United States Independent Telephone Association in 1915, the organization focused on educational programs for its members, standardization efforts and representing its members on relevant policy issues addressed by the federal government. For instance, as the telephone industry grew, Congress enacted new laws, including the Communications Act of 1934 that established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which among a variety of initiatives, set a universal service goal of connecting all Americans via affordable, accessible telecommunications services. To meet the requirements of the new statutes, telephone companies worked through the association to educate members, develop common policy positions and interface with policymakers in Congress and at the FCC. {| class="wikitable" style="float:right;" |- ! Year ! Name of Association |- | 1897 | Independent Telephone Association of America (ITAA) |- | 1903 | Independent Telephone Association of the United States of America (ITAUSA) |- | 1904 | National Independent Telephone Association of the United States (NITAUS) |- | 1909 | National Independent Telephone Association (NITA) |- | 1915 | United States Independent Telephone Association (USITA) |- | 1983 | United States Telephone Association (USTA) |- | 1999 | United States