The Regional Bell operating companies (RBOC) are the result of the United States antitrust action against AT&T in 1983. After the Modification of Final Judgment, the resulting Baby Bells were originally:
These companies have since merged, leaving only 4 regional telephone companies in the United States. After the 1984 breakup, part of AT&T's Bell Labs was split off into Bellcore, which would serve as an R&D and standards body for the seven Baby Bells.
In 2000, US West was merged into Qwest, a fiber optic company.
BellSouth is the only RBOC that remains as originally conceived, and is the only company that still carries the "Bell" name. BellSouth still uses the last Bell logo, designed in 1969.
BabyBells are the regional local telephone providers formed by the breakup of AT&T. "There's been a lot written and said in the last couple weeks (about the effects) of the demise of WorldCom, especially for Internet traffic and e-mail.
The FCC has the authority to approve or deny proposed mergers in the telecommunications industry, so any BabyBell looking to snap up WorldCom would need to go through the approval process and prove to the commission that the merger is in the public interest, the spokesman said.
Currently, none of the BabyBell companies have met the Section 271 requirements in all of the states in their regions, Brecher said, but a few Bells are coming close.
Feeds |
Contact