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Is AT&T a Monopoly in the Making?

theatlantic.com

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Re: Is AT&T a Monopoly in the Making?

#11

Post by IdeaHamster »

bediger wrote: post #2

You've got to remember that "at&t" (the current one) is not AT&T, the remains of The Bell System resulting from the 1983 divestiture. SBC, which started out as a Regional Bell Operating Company named "Southwestern Bell", bought the old AT&T at firesale prices back in 2005 and assumed its corporate livery. SBC and Southwestern Bell before it, never made a secret of thinking that the 1983 Bell System breakup was a mist…

Wait...but it is the AT&T from the Bell System. The fact that it was one of the spin-offs buying back the mothership probably has little consequence in terms of attitudes and/or business strategy. I imagine the AT&T ethos of old was pretty well spread between all the "Baby" bells and "Mama" Bell.

Also, you forgot the part where shortly after SBC bought AT&T, the "new" AT&T bought Cingular, a partnership between Bell South and the former AT&T. Oh, and the part where before buying AT&T, SBC also bought Ameritech, the parent company of the Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin "Baby" Bells, and Pacific Telesis, the parent company of Pacbell and Nevada Bell.

...and what of the other "Baby" Bells? Well, Bell Atlantic and NYNEX combined to form a company you may have heard of: Verizon!

(source...and a fun read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_Bell_Operating_Company...)

Re: Is AT&T a Monopoly in the Making?

#12

Post by raganwald »

brown9-2 wrote: post #8

Expect AT&T to make major public commitments to increasing the number of American jobs through this transaction. The spin on this will be fascinating to see if it plays out as the a lot of jobs are expected to be eliminated as part of a merger.

The chocolate ration has been increased to 25 grammes.

Re: Is AT&T a Monopoly in the Making?

#13

Post by InclinedPlane »

markszcz wrote: post #10
bediger wrote: post #2

You've got to remember that "at&t" (the current one) is not AT&T, the remains of The Bell System resulting from the 1983 divestiture. SBC, which started out as a Regional Bell Operating Company named "Southwestern Bell", bought the old AT&T at firesale prices back in 2005 and assumed its corporate livery. SBC and Southwestern Bell before it, never made a secret of thinking that the 1983 Bell System breakup was a mist…

This picture describes your breakdown: http://www.wikinvest.com/images/0/00/Att_history.jpg (AT&T old and what has spawned out from there.)

That picture is not very accurate. It makes it seem as though USWest simply changed their name to QWest, in reality they got bought by QWest which was a young (founded in 1996) company which had been focusing on fiber optic runs up until they bought a for-reals telecom. I'm sure there are other inaccuracies, that one seemed particularly glaring.

Re: Is AT&T a Monopoly in the Making?

#16

Post by graywh »

IdeaHamster wrote: post #11
bediger wrote: post #2

You've got to remember that "at&t" (the current one) is not AT&T, the remains of The Bell System resulting from the 1983 divestiture. SBC, which started out as a Regional Bell Operating Company named "Southwestern Bell", bought the old AT&T at firesale prices back in 2005 and assumed its corporate livery. SBC and Southwestern Bell before it, never made a secret of thinking that the 1983 Bell System breakup was a mist…

Wait...but it is the AT&T from the Bell System. The fact that it was one of the spin-offs buying back the mothership probably has little consequence in terms of attitudes and/or business strategy. I imagine the AT&T ethos of old was pretty well spread between all the "Baby" bells and "Mama" Bell. Also, you forgot the part where shortly after SBC bought AT&T, the "new" AT&T bought Cingular, a partnership between Bell…

AT&T (formerly SBC) bought BellSouth to gain complete control over Cingular.

Re: Is AT&T a Monopoly in the Making?

#19

Post by Criztoph »

astrodust wrote: post #5
dr_ wrote: post #4

You can only believe AT&T is a monopoly if you believe the future of voice and data is through cell towers. My guess is, it's probably not.

Left to an open market, it won't be, but if AT&T has its way, it will be. They will buy up or buy control over everything if they can. Wireless data is not something you want locked up by one company.

Definitely - competition played a huge role in making text message plans cheaper. With 1 less network that's available for consumers to choose from kills other chances of networks introducing agressive pricing, etc.
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