o operate successfully for over 100 years. Despite all its advantages, BTC-AT&T fell into decline in the mid-1980s and was finally acquired by competitors, a fall which can be attributed to all three technological, business and policy factors. First, on the policy side, monopoly operation and lack of competition may have had a role in AT&T's reputation for inadequate customer service. In 1974 another anti-trust suit was launched by the US government which resulted in a settlement which broke the monopoly operation that BTC had enjoyed. The company was divided into seven regional telephone operators known as Baby Bells. An eighth company connected these regional companies as a long-distance operator under the name AT&T. While BTC- AT&T had remained successful from the technological and business viewpoints, it had failed to stay with the policy shift and adjust accordingly. AT&T continued to operate profitably as a long-distance operator, carrying calls bet- ween regional Baby Bell telephone companies, and later as a mobile telephone operator. However, technological developments in whose development AT&T had played a prominent role led to its own demise. Bell Laboratories had been one of the major contributors to the development of optical fibre systems. These cables have very large capacities and can carry a very large Broadband Telecommunications Technologies and Management number of simultaneous telephone calls. With the deployment of optical fibre cables in place of copper cables, and the deregulation of operator business, the cost of long- distance telephony dropped, and AT&T's business as a long-distance operator suffered. Mobile telephony was the other technological development which Bell Laboratories had pioneered. The growth of mobile operators and the competitive pressures on AT&T mobile division, in addition to its dubious strategic moves into content provision, finally led to high debt burdens and eventual fall. In effect, the technological break-throughs pioneered by AT&T had been used by its competito