1913 Kingsbury Commitment

E177034

The 1913 Kingsbury Commitment was a landmark agreement in which AT&T’s Bell System accepted federal conditions limiting its monopolistic practices and allowing competition in exchange for avoiding antitrust breakup.

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Label Occurrences
1913 Kingsbury Commitment canonical 1

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Statements (41)

Predicate Object
instanceOf antitrust agreement
regulatory settlement
telecommunications regulation milestone
addressedTo U.S. Attorney General
allowed continued dominance of AT&T in long-distance service
operation of independent local telephone companies
appliesTo AT&T long-distance network
linked to: AT&T

Bell System
context federal antitrust investigation of AT&T
country United States
date 1913-12-19
effect AT&T agreed to divest Western Union stock
AT&T agreed to permit interconnection of independent telephone companies
AT&T agreed to restrict further acquisitions of independent telephone companies
AT&T avoided immediate antitrust dissolution
recognized role of competition in U.S. telephone service
strengthened federal oversight of AT&T
governmentActor U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division
historicalSignificance early federal regulation of a communications monopoly
precursor to later comprehensive telephone regulation
imposedCondition divestiture of AT&T’s holdings in Western Union
limits on acquisition of competing telephone companies
non-discriminatory interconnection with independents
influenced development of U.S. telephone competition policy
legalContext U.S. antitrust law
legalForm letter of commitment
longTermImpact helped entrench AT&T as regulated natural monopoly for decades
namedAfter Nathan Kingsbury
negotiatedBy Nathan Kingsbury as AT&T vice president
predecessorOf later communications regulatory frameworks in the U.S.
purpose to limit monopolistic practices of AT&T
to prevent breakup of AT&T under antitrust action
regulatesIndustry telecommunications
relatedTo Bell System monopoly
linked to: Bell System

Sherman Antitrust Act
Western Union Telegraph Company
linked to: Western Union
sector public utilities
signatory American Telephone and Telegraph Company
Nathan Kingsbury
U.S. Department of Justice
typeOfRestriction behavioral remedies on monopoly power

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Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Bell System antitrustAction 1913 Kingsbury Commitment