AT&T provided telephone services from 1877 to 1984 as a monopoly.
On December 31, 1983, the system was divided into independent companies by a U.S. Justice Department mandate.
One of those bells was South Western Bell.
They bought out AT&T and took the AT&T name.
And their history of reconsolidation is pretty interesting. This chart is about 10 years out of date, it’s only gotten more concentrated.
http://gallery.burrowowl.net/index.php?q=/image/11642.jpg
