Telephone industry diversification: Leanring from Contel Available to Purchase

The deregulation of the telephone industry and the breakbup of AT&T has unleashed monumental changes affecting investors, competitors, vendors, and virtually every telephone user in this country. The seven new Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) created by the break up of AT&T in 1984 will have an enormous impact on the future of the telecommunication industry and the whole U.S. economy (see Exhibit 1).