The year was 1982. After an antitrust lawsuit that had dragged on for eight years, the U.S. Department of Justice mandated that AT&T Corp. end its vertically integrated monopoly on telephone service in the United States and Canada. For most Americans, the breakup of Ma Bell meant confusing choices and even more confusing bills. But for family-owned, Marion, Ind.-based Moorehead Electric Co., it was the start of an evolution from a local industrial electrical contractor to one of the nationâs largest retailers of mobile phones.
âSuddenly Ma Bell stopped at the wire outside, and different companies could take the wire inside and [install] the phones,â recalls Phyllis Moorehead, 70, a former second-generation owner of Moorehead Electric who is now retired.