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.