January 8: Breakup of AT&T (1982)

The Bell System's logo

In 1974, the US Department of Justice launched an anti-trust lawsuit against AT&T (formerly the Bell System) and the case led to a settlement finalized on January 8, 1982, under which AT&T agreed to divest to its local exchange service operating companies, in return for a chance to go into the computer business. Effective January 1, 1984, AT&T's local operations were divided into seven independent regional holding companies, also known as Baby Bells. AT&T has kept the long-distance services but lost the market share gradually to competitors such as MCI and Sprint. The seven Baby Bells were independently operated until 1996, when the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was passed. After that, the Baby Bells started consolidating among themselves. Southern Bell Corporation (SBC) acquired Pacific Telesis, SNET, Ameritech, and AT&T Corporation, then changed its name to AT&T and acquired BellSouth. Qwest also acquired several Baby Bells' operations.