Ask not for whom Ma Bell tolls
AT&T’s merger deal with Time Warner could be undone
AT&T earned the nickname Ma Bell through its ownership of the group of companies, originally founded by Alexander Graham Bell, which once held a near monopoly over the telephone system in the US and much of Canada. The US Department of Justice took a long, hard look at its dominant position in the early 1980s and decided it was time to take action.
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