Jul. 02, 2005 - 22:34 MDT

THE BELL TOLLED

A short article on the editorial page of the Rocky Mountain News, this Saturday morning. Seems as if it is the staff of The Denver Post editorial section have control over the page on Saturday�s also. In its entirety :

AT&T�s Bell falls silent at last.

�Denver hosted the final annual meeting of AT&T, as iconic a corporation as there has been in U.S. history.�

�The 120-year old company on Thursday was absorbed into SBC Corp., an amalgam of eight regional companies that once were part of the American Telephone and Telegraph system.�

�AT&T�s passing is a reminder that changing technology, competition and regulation make life as uncertain for business nameplates as for human beings.�

�AT&T traced its roots to the company formed after Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876. It came into its own in 1913 when it achieved a government approved monopoly. AT&T and such regional arms as the Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph Co. In Colorado were the network over which America talked to itself for much of the 20th century.�

�The company posted an incredible record of innovation � transoceanic service, invention of the transistor, launching the Telstar satellite and earning seven Nobel prizes.�

�Its era ended with the court-ordered break-up of the Bell network in 1984. Over the past two decades a shrunken AT&T tried to reinvent itself as a long-distance business, cellular company, network carrier, consulting firm and combinations of all those things. There�s talk of maintaining the AT&T �brand� within SBC, but whatever happens, Bell really has fallen silent.�

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So, it looks as if the Baby Bells have eaten the parent, wonder who goes next ? ? ? ?

I wonder what happened to Bell Labs which employed the scientists who invented the transistor and other state-of-the-art magic things ? I wonder, are they still working namelessly for an incognito company ? ? ? ?

I won�t even try to guess how many cooks have their fingers in the pot of telecommunications nowadays.. Probably changes from day to day they buy and sell each other when struck by the whim of the almighty dollar. Makes me wonder though, what�ll happen when it all settles out ? And how soon will be we be forced to pay long-distance rates on our e-mail ?

Is some group of Demicans or Republocrats working on the tax and fax situation and the possible impossible charges ? Will the World Wide Web have a spider inside�r who will eat all of us before it dies ?

Railroad passenger service seems to be dying for lack of financial transfusions � except for the commuter trains on the East Coast, our interstate highway system is full of potholes, airlines are on the blithering edge. How soon will it be up to the U.S. Postal Service to keep us in touch with each other � and how soon will stamps cost five dollars to send one ounce to Aunt Maggie ?

So, it seems, don�t send to ask, seems it is for us THE BELL TOLLED. . . . . . . .

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