   #copyright

AT&T

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Companies

   AT&T Inc.
   The logo used by AT&T.
       Type     Public ( NYSE: T)
     Founded    1885
   Headquarters San Antonio, Texas, USA
    Key people  Edward Whitacre, Jr., Chairman/ CEO
                Richard Lindner, CFO
     Industry   Telecommunications
     Products   Telephone, Internet, Television
     Revenue    $43.862 billion USD ( 2005)
    Net income  $4.786 billion USD ( 2005)
    Employees   189,950
      Slogan    The World's Networking Company.
     Website    www.att.com

   AT&T Inc. ( NYSE: T) is the largest provider of both local and long
   distance telephone services, wireless service ( Cingular), 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").

History

AT&T Corporation

SBC Communications

Creation of AT&T, Inc.

   Image: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. SBC announced that
   the name of the merged company will be AT&T, Inc., and it adopted an
   updated logo. The merger is ironic in the fact that one of the "Baby
   Bells" grew to the strength to buy out "Ma Bell" AT&T. A further irony
   is that the government, which mandated the breakup of the original
   monopoly AT&T in the first place, gave the go-ahead to allow AT&T to
   reconstitute much of itself in this merger. There are talks now to
   merge with BellSouth.

   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.".

Expansion

Announced acquisition of BellSouth

   On Sunday March 5, 2006 , AT&T announced it would be purchasing
   BellSouth for $67 billion (or 1.325 shares of AT&T for each share of
   BellSouth). The new combined company would retain the name AT&T. When
   completed, this deal will consolidate ownership of Cingular Wireless,
   currently a joint venture between BellSouth and AT&T. Subsequent to
   completion of the merger, wireless services would be offered under the
   AT&T name. Usage of the Bell logo after the merger is highly doubtful.
   As of October 13, 2006, AT&T and BellSouth received approval of the
   merger from 18 state agencies, three foreign countries, and the U.S.
   Department of Justice. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is
   split down party lines with one of the Republican members abstaining
   due to a potential conflict of interest. FCC Chairman Martin has agreed
   to let some of the conditions favorable to Democrats to be aired
   publicly for 10 days. He has then scheduled a vote on this matter for
   November 3, 2006. AT&T is open to discussing reasonable conditions as
   long as they will not affect AT&T's ability to deliver merger benefits
   to customers and shareowners. AT&T hopes for a unanimous 4-0 vote in
   favour of the merger.

Bell Operating Companies

   New AT&T payphone signage.
   Enlarge
   New AT&T payphone signage.

   Of the 24 Bell Operating Companies which AT&T owned or in which it held
   a minority interest prior to the 1984 federally mandated split of the
   company, 12 will be a part of the new AT&T Inc. upon the completion of
   their proposed acquisition of BellSouth announced on March 5, 2006:
     * 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)
     * Wisconsin Bell ( f/k/a Wisconsin Telephone)
     * South Central Bell (pending BellSouth merger; merged with Southern
       Bell in 1992)
     * Southern Bell (pending BellSouth merger; merged with South Central
       Bell in 1992)
     * Southern New England Telephone—Now wholly owned, AT&T held only
       16.8% interest before 1984.
     * Southwestern Bell

D/B/A Names

   On January 15, 2006, AT&T changed all of its d/b/a names adopted in
   2003 to reflect the new holding company name, AT&T. The names in
   parentheses are the complete real names of each company.
     * AT&T Inc.
          + AT&T Southwest - (Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P.)
               o AT&T Arkansas - (note: d/b/a names for AT&T Southwest are
                 based on its operations in each state)
               o AT&T Kansas
               o AT&T Missouri
               o AT&T Oklahoma
               o AT&T Texas
          + AT&T West (Pacific Telesis)
               o AT&T California (Pacific Bell Telephone Co.)
               o AT&T Nevada (Nevada Bell Telephone Co.)
          + AT&T East (Southern New England Telecommunications Corp.)
               o AT&T Connecticut (The Southern New England Telephone Co.)
          + AT&T Midwest - ( AT&T Teleholding, Inc.)
               o AT&T Illinois (Illinois Bell Telephone Co.)
               o AT&T Indiana (Indiana Bell Telephone Co., Inc.)
               o AT&T Michigan (Michigan Bell Telephone Co.)
               o AT&T Ohio (The Ohio Bell Telephone Co.)

Corporate governance

   "AT&T Tower" in Atlanta, GA.
   Enlarge
   "AT&T Tower" in Atlanta, GA.

   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
     * John B. McCoy
     * Mary S. Metz
     * Toni Rembe
     * S. Donley Ritchey
     * Joyce M. Roche
     * Randall L. Stephenson
     * Laura D'Andrea Tyson
     * Patricia P. Upton

Services

   AT&T offers a broad spectrum of telecommunication services. Voice line,
   Frame Relay, DSL Internet, Dial Up Internet, VoIP, as well as local and
   long distance calling. Recently they have moved into bundled services
   as well as working with cell phone plans.

Privacy controversy

   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 . The Department of Justice has stated they
   will intervene in this lawsuit by means of State Secrets Privilege .

   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. 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."

Places/events/partners named after AT&T

     * AT&T Red River Rivalry - Dallas, Texas (formerly Red River
       Shootout, SBC Red River Rivalry)
     * AT&T Park — San Francisco, California (formerly Pacific Bell Park,
       SBC Park)
     * AT&T Bricktown Ballpark — Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (formerly
       Southwestern Bell Bricktown Ballpark, SBC Bricktown Ballpark)
     * AT&T Centre — San Antonio, Texas (formerly SBC Centre)
     * 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.
     * 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

AT&T's competitors

     * BellSouth (pending merger)
     * Citizens Communications
     * Qwest
     * Sprint Nextel
     * Verizon
     * Embarq
     * LTT
     * Equant (France Télécom)
     * Sage telecom
     * Windstream Communications
     * XO

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
