Regional Bell operating company

The Regional Bell operating companies (RBOC) are the result of the U.S. Department of Justice antitrust suit against AT&T. On January 8, 1982, AT&T settled the suit and agreed to divest ("spin off") its local exchange service operating companies in return for a chance to go into the Internet services industry. Effective January 1, 1984, AT&T's local operations were split into seven independent Regional Bell Operating Companies known as "Baby Bells."

Related Topics:
Antitrust - AT&T - January 8 - 1982 - January 1 - 1984

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After the Modification of Final Judgment, the resulting Baby Bells were originally:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Ameritech ... (SBC)
• Bell Atlantic ... (Verizon)
• BellSouth Telecommunications
• NYNEX ... (Verizon)
• Pacific Telesis Group ... (SBC)
• Southwestern Bell Corporation ... (SBC)
• US West ... (Qwest)

Prior to 1984, AT&T also held investments in two smaller and otherwise independent companies, Cincinnati Bell and Southern New England Telephone (SNET). Following the 1984 breakup, these became fully independent as well. All nine local-exchange companies were assigned a share of the rights to the Bell trademark. Additionally, there was one comparably-sized independent (non-Bell) company of note, GTE.

Related Topics:
Cincinnati Bell - Southern New England Telephone - GTE

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many of 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.

Related Topics:
Bell Labs - Bellcore

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• In 1997, NYNEX was acquired by Bell Atlantic, which later, in 2000, merged with GTE to form Verizon. In 2005, following a protracted bidding war with rival RBOC Qwest, Verizon announced that it would acquire the long distance company MCI. Approval for the merger is likely to be approved in late 2005 or 2006.
• In 1998, Southwestern Bell Corporation changed its name to SBC Communications and soon after acquired Pacific Telesis, Ameritech and SNET. In February 2005, SBC announced its plans to acquire former parent company AT&T for over $16 billion.
• In 2000, US West was merged into Qwest, a Denver based fiber optics company.
• BellSouth and the non-RBOC Cincinnati Bell are the only Bells that remain as originally conceived, and are the only companies that still carry the "Bell" name. Both still use the last Bell logo, designed in 1969 by Saul Bass, though Verizon continues to use the Bell logo on its payphones.
 
Regional Bell operating company: See also ►