AT&T
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| AT&T Inc. | |
 |
|
| Type | Public (NYSE: T) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | San Antonio, Texas, USA |
| Key people | Edward Whitacre, Jr., Chairman/CEO Richard Lindner, CFO |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Products | Telephone, Internet, Wireless, Television |
| Revenue |  $63.055 billion USD (2006) [1] |
| Net income | $7.356 billion USD (2006) [2] |
| Employees | 301,100 |
| Website | www.att.com |
AT&T (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 company, which is based in San Antonio, Texas, United States, was formed in 2005 by SBC Communications' 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.[1] 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.
Contents |
[edit] Services
AT&T offers a broad spectrum of telecommunication services all under the AT&T brand, including:
- Wireless: Cingular Wireless
- DSL Internet: AT&T Yahoo! and BellSouth FastAccess DSL
- Dial-Up Internet: AT&T WorldNet and BellSouth Dialup Internet
- IP Television: AT&T U-verse TV
- Satellite Television: partnerships with Dish Network and DirecTV
- Cable Television: BellSouth Americast (in limited markets)
- VoIP: AT&T CallVantage
- Wireline Phone Service: Local phone service for residential, business, and wholesale
- Long Distance: AT&T Long Distance and BellSouth Long Distance (BSLD)
- AT&T Unity Plan
These services can be bundled together, and denoted as such on one consolidated bill.
[edit] Creation of the new AT&T
[edit] 2005
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. SBC announced that the name of the merged company would be AT&T, Inc., and it adopted an updated logo.
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."
[edit] 2006 To present
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).[3] The new combined company retained the name AT&T. [4] 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.[5][6]
[edit] Bell Operating Companies
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:
- BellSouth Telecommunications (f/k/a Southern Bell/South Central Bell)
- Illinois Bell
- Indiana Bell
- Michigan Bell
- Nevada Bell (f/k/a Bell Telephone Company of Nevada)
- Ohio Bell
- Pacific Bell (f/k/a Pacific Telephone & Telegraph)
- Southwestern Bell
- Wisconsin Bell (f/k/a Wisconsin Telephone)
[edit] Other Operating Companies
AT&T owns the following operating companies not considered Bell Operating Companies:
- Southern New England Telephone — Now wholly owned, the original AT&T held 16.8% interest prior to 1984.
- Woodbury Telephone
[edit] 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 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 Oklahoma (Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P.)
- AT&T Southwest (Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P. as a whole)
- 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.)
[edit] Corporate governance
AT&T's current board mainly consists of members of SBC's board of directors.
- Edward E. Whitacre Jr. — Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
- James A. Henderson
- Gilbert F. Amelio
- William F. Aldinger III
- August A. Busch III
- Martin K. Eby, Jr.
- Charles F. Knight
- Jon C. Madonna
- Lynn M. Martin
- Ronald M. Crump
- John B. McCoy
- Mary S. Metz
- Toni Rembe
- S. Donley Ritchey
- Joyce M. Roche
- Randall L. Stephenson
- Laura D'Andrea Tyson
- Patricia P. Upton
[edit] Privacy controversy
- Further information: NSA call database
In 2006, the Electronic Frontier Foundation lodged a class action lawsuit (Hepting vs. 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 [7]. The Department of Justice has stated they will intervene in this lawsuit by means of State Secrets Privilege [8].
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.[9] 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.'"[10]
[edit] Places/events/partners named after AT&T
- AT&T Bricktown Ballpark — Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (formerly Southwestern Bell Bricktown Ballpark, SBC Bricktown Ballpark)
- AT&T Center — San Antonio, Texas (formerly SBC Center)
- AT&T Champions Classic — Valencia, California
- AT&T Classic — Atlanta, Georgia (formerly Bellsouth Classic)
- AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic (formerly Mobil Cotton Bowl Classic, Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl Classic, SBC Cotton Bowl Classic) — played in Dallas, Texas, at the Cotton Bowl stadium.
- AT&T National
- AT&T Park — San Francisco, California (formerly Pacific Bell Park, SBC Park)
- AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
- AT&T Red River Rivalry — Dallas, Texas (formerly Red River Shootout, SBC Red River Rivalry)
- Jones AT&T Stadium — Lubbock, Texas (formerly Clifford B. and Audrey Jones Stadium, Jones SBC Stadium)
- AT&T WilliamsF1 Team — based in Grove, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
[edit] AT&T's competitors
[edit] Wireless
[edit] Broadband/Television
- Comcast
- Charter Communications
- Cox Communications
- Cablevision
- Time Warner Cable
- Knology
- Bright House
- Patriot Media
[edit] See also
- American Telephone & Telegraph Company
- SBC Communications
- BellSouth
- Cingular Wireless
- Bell System
- Bell Laboratories
- RBOCS
- Bell System Divestiture
- Western Electric
- Ameritech
- Pacific Telesis
- Southern New England Telecommunications Corp. (SNET)
- Telecommunication
- Lists of public utilities
[edit] External links
- AT&T corporate website
- AT&T Family of Companies
- AT&T Center (formerly SBC Center) in San Antonio
- Legal Battle with BellSouth over Domain Names: U.S. Supreme Court Case 05-718 Reuben Norman, Petitioner v. BellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation
- AT&T History and science resources at The Franklin Institute's Case Files online exhibit
- Stock Quote from Yahoo!
- Southwestern Bell Freedom Phone
- Bell System Memorial
- July 2005 IEEE Article
- Yahoo! — AT&T Corp. Company Profile
- ATT's most recent conference call transcripts
- Unnatural Monopoly: Critical Moments in the Development of the Bell System Monopoly by Adam D. Thierer
- "AT&T buys IBM's Global Network", BBC News, December 8, 1998
- "Well Connected" Profile, Fernández Morera, Alejandra & Clark, Drew The Center for Public Integrity, October 2006
- "AT&T to buy BellSouth for $67 billion", CNet News, March 5, 2006
- "AT&T gets final approval to acquire BellSouth, CNNMoney, December 29, 2006
- "AT&T and BellSouth Join to Create a Premier Global Communications Company", AT&T News Room, December 29,2006
- "WWE and AT&T join up for a multi-year deal, WWE.com, March 08, 2007
ACS · AT&T · CenturyTel · Cincinnati Bell · Deltacom · Embarq · FairPoint · Frontier · Hawaiian Telcom · Qwest · TDS · Verizon · Windstream
Categories: Articles to be merged since March 2007 | Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange | Dow Jones Industrial Average | Telecommunications companies of the United States | AT&T | Bell System | Companies based in Texas | Internet service providers of the United States | Public utilities of the United States | San Antonio, Texas | Companies established in 2005 | Companies without an unabbreviated name
