User:AntiVan/sandbox/AT&T drafting

Breakup and reformation (1982–2004)
In 1982, U.S. regulators broke up the AT&T monopoly, requiring AT&T to divest its local subsidiaries, which it did by grouping them into seven individual companies. These new companies were known as Regional Bell Operating Companies, or more informally, Baby Bells. AT&T continued to operate long-distance services but faced increasing competition from overseas supplied competitors such as MCI and Sprint.

Southwestern Bell Corporation (SBC) was one of the companies created by the breakup of AT&T Corp. The company soon started a series of acquisitions, including the 1987 acquisition of Metromedia mobile business and the acquisition of several cable companies in the early 1990s. In the latter half of the 1990s, the company acquired several other telecommunications companies, including two Baby Bells (Pacific Telesis Group and Ameritech Corporation), while selling its cable business. During this time, the company changed its name to SBC Communications Inc. By 1998, the company was in the top 15 of the Fortune 500, and by 1999 the company was part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (lasting through 2015).