ABSTRACT
The most significant regulatory event in telecommunications in the last twenty-five years has got to be the breakup of the Bell system. The proposed decree sets forth general principles governing the configuration of the Operating Companies which AT&T would be required to divest. AT&T would be required by the proposed decree to formulate a plan of reorganization which complied with these principles, and to submit the plan to the Department of Justice within six months after the Court approved the decree. After divestiture, the new Operating Companies would be required to provide, through a centralized body, a single point of contact for national security and emergency preparedness. The proposed reorganization of the Bell System raises issues of vast complexity. The key to the Bell System's power to impede competition has been its control of local telephone service. The local telephone network functions as the gateway to individual telephone subscribers.
