Regional Bell Operating Companies

The Regional Bell operating companies (RBOC) are the result of the United States antitrust action against AT&T in 1983. After the Modification of Final Judgment, the resulting Baby Bells were originally:

• Ameritech
• Bell Atlantic
• BellSouth
• NYNEX
• Pacific Bell
• Southwestern Bell
• US West

Additionally, there was one comparably-sized independent (non-Bell) company of note, GTE

These companies have since merged, leaving only 4 regional telephone companies in the United States. After the 1984 breakup, part of AT&T's Bell Labs was split off into Bellcore, which would serve as an R&D and standards body for the seven Baby Bells.

• In 1998, Southwestern Bell changed its name to SBC Communications and acquired Pacific Bell and Ameritech.
• In 1997, NYNEX was acquired by Bell Atlantic, which later, in 2000, merged with GTE to form Verizon.
• In 2000, US West was merged into Qwest, a fiber optic company.
• BellSouth is the only RBOC that remains as originally conceived, and is the only company that still carries the "Bell" name. BellSouth still uses the last Bell logo, designed in 1969.

See also

• Competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC)
• Bellcore (now known as Telcordia)
• Local access and transport area (LATA)