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AT&T

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This article describes the present AT&T Inc. See American Telephone & Telegraph for the 1885-2005 company.
AT&T Inc.
Company typePublic (NYSE: T)
IndustryTelecommunications
Founded1983[1]
HeadquartersSan Antonio, Texas, USA
Key people
Edward Whitacre, Jr., Chairman/CEO Richard Lindner, CFO
ProductsTelephone, Internet, Wireless, Television
RevenueIncrease $63.055 billion USD (2006) [1]
−4,587,000,000 United States dollar (2022) Edit this on Wikidata
Increase $7.356 billion USD (2006) [2]
Total assets551,622,000,000 United States dollar (2021) Edit this on Wikidata
Number of employees
302,000
Websitewww.att.com

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is the largest provider of both local and long distance telephone services, wireless service under the brand Cingular Wireless, and DSL Internet access in the United States. The current AT&T, which is based in San Antonio, Texas, United States, is the rechristened name of SBC Communications, following the purchase of its former parent company, AT&T Corp. As a part of the merger, SBC shed its name and took on the iconic AT&T moniker and the T stock-trading symbol (for "telephone") . Although the corporation is considered SBC renamed, most of its major subsidiaries were part of AT&T prior to 1984, including the Bell Operating Companies and the long distance division.[2] However, AT&T lacks the vertical integration it once had, which had been the reason for the anti-trust suits that led to the 1984 breakup and the accusations of monopoly associated with the Bell System divestiture.[citation needed]

Creation of the new AT&T

File:Newatt.gif

On January 31, 2005, SBC announced that it would purchase AT&T for more than $16 billion. The announcement came almost 8 years after SBC and AT&T called off their first merger talks and nearly a year after initial merger talks between AT&T and BellSouth fell apart. AT&T stockholders, meeting in Denver, approved the merger on June 30, 2005. The U.S. Department of Justice cleared the merger on October 27, 2005, and the Federal Communications Commission approved it on October 31, 2005. The merger was finalized on November 18 2005 [3]. SBC announced that the name of the merged company would be AT&T, Inc., and it adopted an updated logo.

File:Lockup.gif
SBC-AT&T heritage transition logo, used 2005-2006

On December 1, 2005 the combined company began trading under the historic "T" stock ticker symbol on the NYSE. To differentiate from the preceding company, AT&T is formally known as "AT&T Inc.", while the preceding company was "AT&T Corp."

2006

On Friday December 29, 2006, the FCC approved the acquisition of BellSouth valued at approximately $86 billion (or 1.325 shares of AT&T for each share of BellSouth at the close of trading December 29, 2006).[4] The new combined company retained the name AT&T. [5] When completed, this deal consolidated ownership of both Cingular Wireless and YELLOWPAGES.COM, once joint ventures between BellSouth and AT&T. Wireless services would be offered under the AT&T name.[6][7]

Bell Operating Companies

New AT&T payphone signage.

Of the 22 Bell Operating Companies which AT&T owned prior to the 1984 agreement to divest, 10 have become a part of the new AT&T Inc. with the completion of their acquisition of BellSouth Corporation on December 29, 2006:

Other Operating Companies

AT&T owns the following operating companies not considered Bell Operating Companies:

D/B/A Names

On January 15, 2006, AT&T began using new d/b/a names for its Bell Operating Companies and their holding companies. The following d/b/a list shows the d/b/a names of each company, with its true legal name in parentheses, listed in order of acquisition. Holding companies are listed in bold; the only exception is Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P., which is not a holding company, as it has always been directly held by AT&T Inc. since its inception as Southwestern Bell Corporation.

AT&T Corporation and its holdings have been omitted, as its companies continue to do business under their true, legal name.

  • AT&T Inc.
    • AT&T Arkansas (Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P.)
    • AT&T Kansas (Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P.)
    • AT&T Missouri (Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P.)
    • AT&T Southwest (Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P. as a whole)
    • AT&T Oklahoma (Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P.)
    • AT&T Texas (Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P.)
    • AT&T West (Pacific Telesis Group)
      • AT&T California (Pacific Bell Telephone Company)
      • AT&T Nevada (Nevada Bell Telephone Company)
    • AT&T East (Southern New England Telecommunications Corporation)
      • AT&T Connecticut (The Southern New England Telephone Company)
      • AT&T Woodbury (The Woodbury Telephone Company)
    • AT&T Midwest (AT&T Teleholdings, Inc.)
      • AT&T Illinois (Illinois Bell Telephone Company)
      • AT&T Indiana (Indiana Bell Telephone Company)
      • AT&T Michigan (Michigan Bell Telephone Company)
      • AT&T Ohio (The Ohio Bell Telephone Company)
      • AT&T Wisconsin (Wisconsin Bell, Inc.)
    • AT&T South (BellSouth Corporation)
      • AT&T Alabama (BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc.)
      • AT&T Florida (BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc.)
      • AT&T Georgia (BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc.)
      • AT&T Kentucky (BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc.)
      • AT&T Louisiana (BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc.)
      • AT&T Mississippi (BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc.)
      • AT&T North Carolina (BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc.)
      • AT&T South Carolina (BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc.)
      • AT&T Southeast (BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. as a whole)
      • AT&T Tennessee (BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc.)

Corporate governance

File:At&tstlmo.jpg
One AT&T Center in St. Louis, MO. This served as the corporate headquarters of Southwestern Bell Corporation from 1986 until 1995.

AT&T's current board mainly consists of members of SBC's board of directors.

Privacy controversy

Further information: [[:NSA call database]]

In 2006, the Electronic Frontier Foundation lodged a class action lawsuit, Hepting v. AT&T, which alleged that AT&T had allowed agents of the National Security Agency (NSA) to monitor phone and Internet communications of AT&T customers without warrants. If true, this would violate the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 and the First and Fourth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. AT&T has yet to confirm or deny that monitoring by the NSA is occurring. In April 2006 a retired former AT&T technician, Mark Klein, lodged an affidavit supporting this allegation [8]. The Department of Justice has stated they will intervene in this lawsuit by means of State Secrets Privilege [9].

In May 2006, USA Today reported that all international and domestic calling records had been handed over to the National Security Agency by AT&T, Verizon, SBC, and BellSouth for the purpose of creating a massive calling database.[10] The portions of the new AT&T that had been part of SBC Communications before November 18, 2005 were not mentioned.

On June 21, 2006, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that AT&T had rewritten rules on their privacy policy. The policy, to take effect June 23, 2006, says that "AT&T — not customers — owns customers' confidential info and can use it 'to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process.' "[11]

Places/events/partners named after AT&T

File:ATTCenter.JPG
The AT&T Center in San Antonio

Trivia

The song in the background for all commercials in "The New AT&T" series is All Around the World by Oasis.

See also

References

  1. ^ The current company named AT&T was incorporated in 1983 as Southwestern Bell Corporation, later SBC Communications. Its buyout of AT&T Corporation resulted in its name changing from SBC Communications, Inc. to AT&T Inc. Hoover's Corporate Guide, 2006.
  2. ^ Kleinfield, Sonny. The Biggest Company on Earth: A Profile of AT&T. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1981.
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