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In 1877, Alexander Graham Bell created the Bell Telephone Company, which later evolved into the giant American Telephone and Telegraph Company, or AT&T. This company defined the development of telephone service in the United States and Canada for more than a century. By the beginning of World War II, its vertical monopoly covered most of the telephone services in these countries.

In its early years, the company focused on building its niche in telephone services, but its ambitions soon expanded. By 1885, AT&T was established as a separate entity within Bell to build long-distance telecommunications lines. Nearly three decades later, in 1913, under the Kingsbury Agreement, AT&T was authorized to take over smaller independent telephone operators, allowing it to expand its hegemony in the telecommunications sector further.

However, things began to change in the mid-twentieth century. In 1974, the U.S. Department of Justice brought an antitrust lawsuit against AT&T, which culminated in a 1982 agreement to liquidate the Bell System. Seismic changes occurred in 1984 when the legendary Bell System was split into seven separate companies, dubbed “Baby Bells,” that served different regions of the United States. The breakup marked the end of an era and the beginning of a new chapter in the telecommunications industry.