AT&T did have all the phone lines in a given area. They still do. Just like cable. The market isn’t always as broad as the entire world, the entire country, or even an entire state. Comcast has a monopoly in many places by being the only provider of cable service in a lot of places, just as AT&T was the only provider of phone service to a lot of places.
And if a single house in the county has DirecTV, it doesn’t count. Right?
AT&T tended to have abundant small competitors, even since the 19th century. They just kept suing them out of existence or buying them.
All of which is really missing the fucking point - absolute monopoly is rare and weird. Most monopolies have competitors. They’re still monopolies. They command overwhelming market share, which lets them single-handedly shape the market. Having that power is what makes them a monopoly - abusing that power would make them a trust.
AT&T did have all the phone lines in a given area. They still do. Just like cable. The market isn’t always as broad as the entire world, the entire country, or even an entire state. Comcast has a monopoly in many places by being the only provider of cable service in a lot of places, just as AT&T was the only provider of phone service to a lot of places.
And if a single house in the county has DirecTV, it doesn’t count. Right?
AT&T tended to have abundant small competitors, even since the 19th century. They just kept suing them out of existence or buying them.
All of which is really missing the fucking point - absolute monopoly is rare and weird. Most monopolies have competitors. They’re still monopolies. They command overwhelming market share, which lets them single-handedly shape the market. Having that power is what makes them a monopoly - abusing that power would make them a trust.