1.   BG was formed in February when the U.K. broke up the former British Gas monopoly.

2.   BT, a former monopoly, is likely to relate much better with GTE, because they are culturally quite similar, said Ross.

3.   But regulations preventing BT, a former state monopoly, from applying for the necessary licenses were relaxed last year.

4.   Hundreds of thousands of working Mexicans have been pleading for years with the giant former monopoly, Telefonos de Mexico, to get phones.

5.   It is also the latest in a wave of state asset sales worldwide as governments move to unload former state monopolies and open up markets to competition.

6.   Moreover, newcomers are bitter about their treatment at the hands of the public-sector former monopolies, which still control access to most customers and infrastructure.

7.   New telecommunications laws assure plenty of competition for these former monopolies, they figure.

8.   Philippine Long Distance, the former monopoly known as PLDT, led the decline amid concern that reduced settlement rates suggested by U.S. regulators would slash its earnings.

9.   PLDT, a former monopoly, now faces at least eight companies in the lucrative market for international calls.

10.   Ruiz said that could prompt some investors who want exposure in Philippine telecommunications stocks to switch to PLDT, the former monopoly whose earnings prospects are improving.