Telecom-related stocks plummeted Monday after the $700-billion rescue bill was voted down by the House of Representatives.

The $700 billion proposal championed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and

Federal Reserve

Chairman Ben Bernanke failed to garner sufficient votes to make it through the House. The package, which would have set up a facility to use government money to buy troubled assets from financial firms, was voted down with an initial tally of 206 votes supporting the bill, and 227 against.

Without a bailout, fear swept over Wall Street that financial markets would seize, affecting any company that depends on banks to keep floating money. Investors quickly fled from equities to the so-called safe haven of credit markets, sending shares lower.

U.S. wireless carriers were hit hardest by word the bailout was defeated.

Sprint Nextel

(S) - Get Report

dropped 10%,

AT&T

(T) - Get Report

gave back 5.6% and

Verizon

(VZ) - Get Report

fell nearly 3%.

Deutsche Telekom

(DT) - Get Report

, meanwhile, fell 8.4%.

Network equipment makers also saw shares slide dramatically.

Cisco Systems

(CSCO) - Get Report

tumbled 7.2%,

Alcatel-Lucent

(ALU)

slid 16.2%,

Juniper Networks

(JNPR) - Get Report

was off 7.3% and

Nortel Networks

(NT)

lost 9.8%.

Among handset makers,

Nokia

(NOK) - Get Report

slipped 9.7%,

Ericsson

(ERIC) - Get Report

lost 9.4% and

Motorola

(MOT)

was falling 9.2%.

Cable and satellite operators were also hit hard.

Comcast

(CMCSA) - Get Report

slid 9.8%,

Cablevision

(CVC)

dropped 8%,

Dish Network

(DISH) - Get Report

was down 17% and

Sirius XM

(SIRI) - Get Report

gave back 7.9% to 70 cents.