a loss. At the time, Cingular was a mobile provider, jointly owned by RBOCs BellSouth and SBC. Competition, Industry Structures, and Regulations Table 3-2 lists the purchases that enabled SBC to become a nationwide provider of mobile, broadband, and business services. In 2005, it purchased the old AT&T. In 2006, following its purchase of BellSouth, SBC changed its name to AT&T, Inc. Table 3-2 Purchases That Fueled SBC's Transformation to AT&T, Inc. Acquired Company: Year Details of Purchased Organization Pacific Telesis Group: 1997 Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC) in California and Nevada Southern New England Tele- Incumbent telephone company in Connecticut phone Company: 1998 Ameritech: 1999 RBOC in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin The former AT&T Corp: 2005 SBC purchased the former AT&T's long- distance, and global network, which was oper- ating at a loss due to customer defections to lower-priced competitive services and lower prices on its own services. This gave SBC a large global network. BellSouth: 2006 With the purchase of RBOC BellSouth, SBC gained total control of Cingular Wireless. Previously, Cingular Wireless had been jointly owned with BellSouth. SBC changed its name to AT&T, Inc., because of AT&T's greater name recognition. In a similar fashion to SBC, Bell Atlantic pursued a strategy of mergers to become a dominant force in broadband, mobile, and business services. Table 3-3 lists the major acquisitions that resulted in Bell Atlantic's transformation from an RBOC to nation- wide operator, Verizon Communications. In addition to these mergers, Verizon pur- chased mobile carriers including the majority of Alltel Corporation, which had service in 34 states, and Rural Cellular Corporation, which had been one of the largest rural cellular operators in the United States. The 1984 Breakup of AT&T Table 3-3 The Post-1996 Evolution of Bell Atlantic to Verizon Communications Purchased Entity: Year Details NYNEX: Bell Atlantic purchased NYNEX, the former RBOC in New Eng- land. Prior to t