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The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America for over 100 years from its creation in 1877 until its antitrust breakup in 1983.
The breakup of the Bell System was mandated on January 8, 1982, by a consent decree providing that AT&T Corporation would, as had been initially proposed by AT&T, relinquish control of the Bell Operating Companies, which had provided local telephone service in the United States.
The Bell Telephone Company was the initial corporate entity from which the Bell System originated to build a continental conglomerate and monopoly in telecommunication services in the United States and Canada.
Bell System, a former American telephone system, governed by American Telephone & Telegraph Company (now AT&T Corporation; q.v.) and including Western Electric Company (q.v.), the system’s manufacturer; Bell Laboratories (q.v.), the research and development facility; and other departments and 22.
The Bell System (AT&T and the various other companies it owned) had become the dominant phone service provider in the United States long before the 1920s; in fact, it had a monopoly on phone service even then.
The nation-wide Bell System network, which was described as the largest computer in the world, was the result of teamwork by people at AT&T, Bell Telephone Laboratories, Western Electric, and the local Bell Telephone companies.
Jan 1, 1984 · A new era for American telecommunications and for American business begins today as the once-unified Bell System begins life as eight separate companies. It is a time of great expectations and...
The Bell System’s history stretches back to 1876, with founder Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone. Bell, Thomas Sanders and Gardiner G. Hubbard formed The Bell Patent Association in order to capitalize on the invention.
The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America for over 100 years from its creation in 1877 until its antitrust breakup in 1983.
The Bell system ruled, and they ruled from the top. The rule from the top was based on revenues, and the leaders knew how to apply the screws. Since AT&T had majority ownership of 22 companies and minority investments in two more, plus Bell Canada, they controlled their access to the securities market.
