The Bell Monopoly Never Happens

I recently watched the documentary Genius on Hold regarding the rise of the AT&T monopoly and the battles Walter Shaw and others had breaking said monopoly.

According to the documentary AT&T and it's competitors had differing methods of growth. AT&T chose to build their infrastructure in the mid to large sized cities on the East Coast while the thousands of independent telephone providers focused in rural settings largely in the Midwest. This competition led to low prices, rapid growth, and advances in technology.

AT&T was on the verge of bankruptcy when a series of lucky events led to AT&T acquiring legal rights to a telephone Monopoly in the United States. This Monopoly essentially saved AT&T and led to price hikes and hampered tech development; look at the inventions of Walter Shaw and other discoveries that Bell labs kept locked up.

My question is what would telecommunications and tech be like if AT&T never acquired their monopoly.
 
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