And then there were two …

America's Network, July 15, 2000

With FCC approval given to the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE, two operators now control close to 70% of the nation's phone lines. New entity Verizon will control 69 million fixed lines and 23 million wireless subscribers, and together with SBC, heralds a move to a two-company monopoly.

The remaining two BOCs, US West and BellSouth, are considerably smaller in scale. The FCC only allowed the merger with 25 conditions, borne partly out of the fact that prior to the merger proposal, GTE was planning direct competition against Bell Atlantic in some of its markets. One of the conditions calls for Verizon to build a market share of 250,000 lines as a competitive CLEC outside its current service areas or face a government levy of up to $750 million. The cellular operation will also divest assets in some 96 markets -- some are already going to Alltel and AT&T Wireless.