AT&T began purchasing competitors, which attracted the attention of antitrust regulators. To avoid antitrust action, in a deal with the government, Vail agreed to the Kingsbury Commitment of 1913. One of the three terms of the agreement forbade AT&T from acquiring any more independent phone companies

Антитрастовское вмешательство государства помешала ей скупать конкурентов, заставило подключать конкурентов к своим сетям.

provision allowed Bell and the independents to exchange telephones in order to give each other geographical monopolies. So long as only one company served a given geographical area there was little reason to expect price competition to take place

Вмешательство правительства гарантировала конкурентам AT&T их неприкосновенность - если они какую-то область успели захватить, то AT&T туда лезть уже не могла