In the 1980s, the US government broke up AT&T, insisting there was a monopoly over phone services. The big gigantic company was split into “baby bells” all over the country, mixed in with competing long distance companies like Sprint, MCI and AT&T.
As we hit a new decade, those companies have merged and merged, leaving us with 2 powerhouses: Verizon and AT&T. Only one thing is left, for Ma Bell to become whole again.
The truth is that the services that AT&T had a monopoly on in the 1980s no longer exist. The phone companies offer a powerful suite of services including internet access and TV service, along with the dying legacy business of local and long distance phone service. The competitors are no longer other phone companies, but cable companies with competing digital broadband pipes.
Oh, and mobile phones too. Verizon and AT&T have become significantly better known, marketing-wise, for their mobile networks, compared to the so-called dumb pipes. They currently run their networks using incompatible technologies (CDMA for Verizon, GSM for AT&T). Both services, however, are transitioning into 4G LTE networks, that would be compatible with each other. The mobile divisions may be the biggest antitrust issue with a potential AT&T/Verizon merger, but the rest of the elements in the modern “Triple Play” business of Phone.
Do you project a Verizon / AT&T merger attempt in the next decade? Do you think that they are already talking about it? Discuss!
