Did you ever wonder what happened to fixed telephones and subsequently mobiles through the years following the break up of the AT&T owned Bell System in January 1982. The Wiki has a pretty comprehensive coverage here however this week the Wall Street Journal had a great chart showing how the old monopoly which was split into seven Baby Bells plus some new entrants have morphed into into some mighty corporations.
From a mobile perspective the split of the wireline operators and licensing of competitive operators (originally one per area under the old AMPS system) has made it much harder for even these massive corporations to provide a national service except by complex roaming arrangements. Contrast this with most of the rest of the world which, with some notable exceptions, have operators with national licenses and nationally consistent service, pricing and roaming.
Wall Steet Journal Chart – Click to see larger image