"Baby Bells"
After the Modification of Final Judgment, the resulting Baby Bells were originally:
- Ameritech (acquired by SBC Communications in 1999, which is now AT&T Inc.)
- Bell Atlantic (changed its name to Verizon in 2000 after acquiring GTE)
- BellSouth (acquired by AT&T Inc. in 2006)
- NYNEX (acquired by Bell Atlantic in 1997, which is now Verizon)
- Pacific Telesis (acquired by SBC in 1997, which is now AT&T Inc.)
- Southwestern Bell (changed its name to SBC Communications in 1995; acquired "Ma Bell" AT&T Corp. and changed its name to AT&T Inc. in 2005)
- US West (changed name to MediaOne and spun off "new" US West in 1998; US West acquired by Qwest in 2000; CenturyLink acquired Qwest in 2011)
Prior to 1984, AT&T Corp. 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 holding companies were assigned a share of the rights to the Bell trademark. Additionally, there was one comparably-sized independent (non-Bell) company, GTE.
Read more about this topic: Regional Bell Operating Company
Famous quotes containing the words baby and/or bells:
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—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
“The bells discuss the hour’s gradations,
Dusty shelves hold prayers and proofs:
Above, Chaldean constellations
Sparkle over crowded roofs.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)