2 Interconnection: Common Carrier Regulation, Spectrum Allocation, and Geopolitics at the 1903 and 1906 International Radio Conferences

In March 1902, the German embassy called the attention of the U.S. State Department to an agreement between the Marconi Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company, registered in Britain, and the marine insurance organization Lloyd's of London, also established in Britain, inquiring whether the United States was interested in joining an international agreement to regulate ship-to-shore communication via radio.
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The German draft proposal was aimed directly at the Marconi Company's "non-intercommunication" policy, which contractually bound ships and shore stations using a Marconi apparatus to communicate only with ships and shore stations that also carried a Marconi apparatus.