That "break up", especially when considered together with the Act of '96, was a long con. Outside investors poured billions into "competitive" telcos, yet today the replacement for Ma Bell is two Daughters Bell plus a few scattered also-rans. In the meantime they got rid of common carriage, lots of PUC rules, limits on broadcast monopolies, etc. The monopoly profits they stole on the wireline side funded their anti-competitive merger spree on the wireless side. We don't have to wait for the inevitable merger between ATT and VZN to call this a giant failure.