A nickname for any of the telephone companies created in 1984 from the breakup of the telecommunications company AT&T, which was nicknamed “Ma Bell.”.
Example sentencesExamples
As if the Big Three telecom companies didn't have enough to worry about, now there are some Baby Bells on steroids to watch.
He spent the early 1990s as the London-based chief of international operations for U S West, a Baby Bell now owned by Qwest.
Verizon doesn't want to be bested by Qwest, an upstart fiber jockey that once dared to buy a Baby Bell.
The talks, which the executives described as ‘fluid’ and ‘very, very sensitive’ would unite SBC, a Baby Bell with some 50 million local-line customers, with AT&T, its much-diminished former parent.
SBC, obviously, is a Baby Bell - so they're going to view it differently.
Definition of Baby Bell in US English:
Baby Bell
noun
historical, informal
A nickname for any of the telephone companies created in 1984 from the breakup of the telecommunications company AT&T, which was nicknamed “Ma Bell.”.
Example sentencesExamples
SBC, obviously, is a Baby Bell - so they're going to view it differently.
Verizon doesn't want to be bested by Qwest, an upstart fiber jockey that once dared to buy a Baby Bell.
As if the Big Three telecom companies didn't have enough to worry about, now there are some Baby Bells on steroids to watch.
The talks, which the executives described as ‘fluid’ and ‘very, very sensitive’ would unite SBC, a Baby Bell with some 50 million local-line customers, with AT&T, its much-diminished former parent.
He spent the early 1990s as the London-based chief of international operations for U S West, a Baby Bell now owned by Qwest.