A Slippery Slope: The Long Road to the Breakup of AT&T

Front Cover
Bloomsbury Academic, Apr 27, 1988 - Business & Economics - 277 pages

A comprehensive examination of the events that led to the Bell System breakup. . . . Argues that divestiture was the culmination of a long process of change in telecommunications policy that began several decades ago. Associates new technologies, economic pressure, and social and political developments as the driving stimulus inducing a change that was a process of gradual evolution rather than programmed revolution in national telecommunications policies. Journal of Economic Literature

This book presents, for the first time, a complete history of the events that led to the breakup of the Bell System on January 1, 1984. Henck and Strassburg, each of whom has a lifetime of experience in the telecommunications field, correct the popular misconception that the divestiture of AT&T was an isolated event which by itself brought about the confusion and occasional chaos besetting the average telephone user. Rather, they demonstrate, it was the culmination of a process of change in telecommunications policy that began several decades ago.

From inside the book

 

Contents

The Way It Was
1
Making It through the War
12
The First Chinks in the Dike 222223
21
Copyright

20 other sections not shown

Other editions - View all

A Slippery Slope: The Long Road to the Breakup of AT&T
Fred W. Henck,Bernard Strassburg
Snippet view - 1988
A Slippery Slope: The Long Road to the Breakup of AT&T
Fred W. Henck,Bernard Strassburg
No preview available - 1988

Common terms and phrases

agency antitrust antitrust suit AT&T authority basic Bell companies Bell System bill BOCs Carterfone Carterfone decision Chairman changes Commission commissioners committee common carrier communications competition competitors Comsat Congress congressional consent decree cost customers Datran decision devices divestiture economic effect exchange Execunet facilities FCC 2d FCC's federal filed final foreign attachment Goeken hearings Hush-A-Phone industry interconnection interexchange interexchange carriers interstate rate intrastate issued Judge Greene jurisdiction Justice later legislation long distance calls long distance service long distance telephone MCI's ment microwave million monopoly munications NARUC nationwide officials operating percent private line services proposed rate base rate reduction regulation regulatory reported revenues ruling satellite Senate separations specialized carrier specialized common carriers Strassburg subcommittee tariff telecommunications telephone companies telephone network telephone rates telephone service telephone system telpak terminal equipment tion took Tunney Act U.S. Court users Western Electric Western Union

References to this book

Bibliographic information

TitleA Slippery Slope: The Long Road to the Breakup of AT&T
Issue 80 of Contributions in Economics and Economic History, ISSN 0084-9235
AuthorsFred W. Henck, Bernard Strassburg
PublisherBloomsbury Academic, 1988
ISBN0313260257, 9780313260254
Length277 pages
Subjects › 

Business & Economics / General
Technology & Engineering / Telecommunications
  
Export CitationBiBTeX EndNote RefMan