A staff paper submitted to the President's Task Force on Communications Policy surveys the range of present and future innovations in communications techniques, assesses their feasibility and costs, and projects the rate and manner in which they will be deployed in the future. In general, the many technological possibilities--including person-to-person video circuits and computer access for small businesses and households--must await the emergence of more low-cost forms. While economies of scale, especially for long-haul transmission, are expected to grow larger, the outlook is less favorable for cost reductions in the local communications area which is assuming an increasing part of the system's capacity. Terrestrial microwave and coaxial cable, now the predominant long-haul media, may be replaced by communications satellites by 1980. Implications for the common-carrier network, with all its facets, are discussed in detail, and additional technological information is included in the appendices. (BB)