The US Department of Justice has approved AT&T's proposed acquisition of Bell South, saying the enlarged group is "not likely to reduce competition substantially [or] harm consumer welfare". It has attached no conditions to the deal.

This leaves one more regulatory hurdle to jump - say-so from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which votes on the matter on Thursday.

But the $67bn all-stock acquisition goes a long way to re-assembling the old Ma Bell. In 1984, the US government broke up AT&T on monopoloy grounds. The company was split into a long distance arm - the legacy AT&T - and seven Baby Bells, regional carriers, known in today's jargon as incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECS).

Last year, SBC, the ILEC for the southwestern US, bought former parent AT&T for $16bn in cash and shares and then changed its name to AT&T. The AT&T-Bell South combo will control local phone calls in 23 states, as well as owning America's largest cellco, Cingular Wireless. ®

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• AT&T 'overpaying' for BellSouth - S&P (7 March 2006)
• AT&T back together again (6 March 2006)
• US telco mergers get FCC rubber stamp (1 November 2005)
• Baby Bells emulsify back into AT&T (27 October 2005)
• SBC rings AT&T for $16bn mega-merger (31 January 2005)