Yes, the potential SBC/AT&T merger is a significant event, and, yes, the antitrust authorities and the regulators will give it careful scrutiny, as they should.

But there will be much talk today about offspring growing up to slay their parents and the like. Maybe even talk of Oedipus complexes.

I much prefer to listen to the simpler Humpty Dumpty tale....the one about "all the King's horses and all the King's men, couldn't put Humpty together again."

It really is a very different--and much more competitive--telecommunications marketplace we have now than when Reed Hundt called a Baby Bell/ATT combination "unthinkable". This time, before jumping to any quick conclusions, I'd be thinking Humpty.