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118-503: The history of AT&T dates back to the invention of the telephone . The Bell Telephone Company was established in 1877 by Alexander Graham Bell , who obtained the first US patent for the telephone, and his father-in-law, Gardiner Greene Hubbard . Bell and Hubbard also established American Telephone and Telegraph Company in 1885, which acquired the Bell Telephone Company and became the primary telephone company in

236-492: A $ 39 billion stock and cash offer. The bid was withdrawn after the takeover company was faced with significant regulatory and legal hurdles, along with heavy resistance from the U.S. government. As per the original acquisition agreement, T-Mobile received $ 3 billion in cash as well as access to $ 1 billion worth of AT&T-held wireless spectrum. In September 2013, AT&T announced it would expand into Latin America through

354-413: A $ 62 billion merger, in which SBC would take over Ameritech. After making several organizational changes (such as the sale of Ameritech Wireless to GTE ) to satisfy state and federal regulators, the two merged on October 8, 1999. The FCC later fined SBC Communications $ 6 million for failure to comply with agreements made in order to secure approval of the merger. SBC became the largest RBOC until

472-417: A 10-year deal valued at US$ 4 billion; and assumed management of AT&T's data processing centers. With long-distance rates falling and the market for telecommunications services overall weakening, AT&T could not sustain the debt it had incurred in these ventures. Moreover, the cost of upgrading TCI's equipment to handle two-way communications proved far higher than pre-merger estimates. AT&T undertook

590-533: A 2015 base year. This science-based target is aligned with Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. Interstate Commerce Commission The Commission's five members were appointed by the President with the consent of the United States Senate . This was the first independent agency (or so-called Fourth Branch ). The ICC was established by

708-519: A USDOT number and a Motor Carrier (MC) number that replaced the ICC numbers. The ICC served as a model for later regulatory efforts. Unlike, for example, state medical boards (historically administered by the doctors themselves), the seven Interstate Commerce Commissioners and their staffs were full-time regulators who could have no economic ties to the industries they regulated. Since 1887, some state and other federal agencies adopted this structure. And, like

826-399: A bidding war with Comcast . In 1998, the company took over Teleport Communications Group, a company founded in 1985 to compete with New York Telephone Company using fiber optics . That same year, AT&T announced a US$ 1 billion alliance with BT to offer global voice over IP (VoIP) services, called Concert , sparking rumors of a potential merger. But the parties fought for control of

944-536: A business unit based in Morristown, New Jersey . The chairman of the company indicated AT&T implemented operations in 1989, based on the Baldridge standard, to achieve this goal actually for a 1994 application. In 1994, AT&T purchased the largest cellular carrier, McCaw Cellular , for $ 11.5 billion and kick-started its cellular division with 2 million subscribers. In 1994, AT&T Technologies received

1062-594: A collaboration with América Móvil . In December 2013, AT&T announced plans to sell its Connecticut wireline operations to Stamford-based Frontier Communications . AT&T acquired BellSouth Corporation on December 29, 2006, following FCC approval. The transaction consolidated ownership and management of Cingular Wireless. AT&T rebranded its wireless retail stores from Cingular to AT&T in January 2007. In late 2014, AT&T purchased Mexican cellular carrier Iusacell , and two months later, it purchased

1180-500: A fiber-optic network across the country and would carry SBC's future service. On November 1, 1999, SBC became a part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (lasting through 2015). In 2002, SBC ended marketing its operating companies under different names, and simply opted to give its companies different doing business as names based on the state (a practice already in use by Ameritech since 1993), and it gave

1298-542: A given geographical area there was little reason to expect price competition to take place." AT&T focused on purchasing companies within specific geographic areas that increased its effective control of the telephone system market, while selling its less-desirable and previously acquired companies to independent buyers. Also included in the Kingsbury Commitment was the requirement that AT&T allow competitors to connect through its phone lines, which reduced

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1416-503: A lawsuit for the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division to block the merger with Time Warner, saying it "will harm competition, result in higher bills for consumers and less innovation." On June 12, 2018, U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon ruled that the merger could go forward. The merger closed two days afterwards, with Time Warner becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T. A day later,

1534-472: A major reorganization in October 2000, moving its mobile phone and broadband units into separate companies, to allow each unit to raise capital independently. On July 9, 2001, it spun off AT&T Wireless Services in what was then the world's largest initial public offering (IPO). Later that year it spun off AT&T Broadband and Liberty Media , which comprised its cable TV assets. AT&T Broadband

1652-642: A new agency, the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB), which reviews mergers and acquisitions, rail line abandonments and railroad corporate filings. ICC jurisdiction on rail safety (hours of service rules, equipment and inspection standards) was transferred to the Federal Railroad Administration pursuant to the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970. Before the ICC was abolished motor carriers (bus lines, trucking companies) had safety regulations enforced by

1770-478: A separate entity, selling a 30% stake to TPG Capital (owners of Astound Broadband cable), while retaining a 70% stake in the new standalone company. The deal was closed on August 2, 2021. On May 17, 2021, AT&T announced plans to relinquish its equity interest in WarnerMedia , and have it merge with Discovery, Inc. in a US$ 43 billion deal to establish a new media company. Electronic Arts , which

1888-494: A series of mergers, it became Southwestern Bell Telephone Company in 1920, which was then a subsidiary of the original American Telephone & Telegraph Company . The latter was a successor of the original Bell Telephone Company founded by Alexander Graham Bell in 1877. The American Bell Telephone Company formed the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) subsidiary in 1885. In 1899, AT&T became

2006-646: A service agreement with AT&T, ensuring any radio network RCA started would have transmission connections provided by AT&T. Both companies agreed to cross-license patents, ending that aspect of the dispute. RCA, GE , and Westinghouse were now free to combine their assets to form the National Broadcasting Company , or NBC network. In 1925, AT&T created a new unit called Bell Telephone Laboratories, commonly known as Bell Labs . This research and development unit proved highly successful, pioneering, among other things, radio astronomy ,

2124-442: A specialty option. On April 24, 2020, AT&T announced that effective July 1, 2020, company COO John Stankey would replace Randall L. Stephenson as CEO of AT&T. It was also acknowledged that AT&T's acquisitions of DirecTV and Time Warner had by this point resulted in a massive debt burden of $ 200 billion for the company. As a result of planned cost cutting programs, the sale of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

2242-623: A wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. Cingular was then rebranded as AT&T Mobility . AT&T Inc. also acquired Time Warner in 2016, with the proposed merger confirmed on June 12, 2018 and the aim of making AT&T Inc. the largest and controlling shareholder of Time Warner, which it then rebranded as WarnerMedia in 2018. The company later withdrew its equity stake in WarnerMedia in 2022 and merged it with Discovery, Inc. to create Warner Bros. Discovery , divesting itself of its media arm. The current AT&T reconstitutes most of

2360-427: A year later. States then began regulating rates so that those in rural areas would not have to pay high prices, and the competition was highly regulated or prohibited in local markets. Also, potential competitors were forbidden from installing new lines to compete, with state governments wishing to avoid "duplication." The claim was that telephone service was a " natural monopoly ," meaning that one firm could better serve

2478-536: Is the company known as AT&T today. American Telephone and Telegraph Company officially transferred full ownership of Southwestern Bell Telephone Company to Southwestern Bell Corporation on January 1, 1984. It had three other subsidiaries: Southwestern Bell Publications, Inc., a directory publisher; Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems, Inc., in the business of mobile telephone service; and Southwestern Bell Telecommunications, Inc., focusing on marketing phone equipment to business customers. The holding company's new president

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2596-478: Is the same at the state level, though it is probably less pronounced. The Interstate Commerce Commission had a strong influence on the founders of Australia. The Constitution of Australia provides ( §§ 101-104 ; also § 73 ) for the establishment of an Inter-State Commission , modeled after the United States' Interstate Commerce Commission. However, these provisions have largely not been put into practice;

2714-777: Is the world's third largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest wireless carrier in the United States behind Verizon and T-Mobile . As of 2023, AT&T was ranked 13th on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations, with revenues of $ 122.4 billion. The modern company to bear the AT&;T name began its history as the American District Telegraph Company, formed in St. Louis in 1878. After expanding services to Arkansas , Kansas , Oklahoma and Texas through

2832-460: The Hush-A-Phone v. United States ruling allowed a third-party device to be attached to rented telephones owned by AT&T. This was followed by the 1968 Carterfone decision that allowed third-party equipment to be connected to the AT&T telephone network. The rise of cheap microwave communications equipment in the 1960s and 1970s opened a window of opportunity for competitors — no longer

2950-556: The Washington Post on May 10 confirmed the figure of 12 payments, which had begun three days after the President was sworn into office . AT&T confirmed the report the same day. The report from The Washington Post , as well as additional reporting from Bloomberg , revealed the payments had been made for Cohen to "provide guidance" relating to the attempted $ 85 billion merger with Time Warner , to gain information on

3068-544: The AT&;T network, as long as they did not cause damage to the system. This ruling (13 F.C.C.2d 420) created the possibility of selling devices that could connect to the phone system and opened up the market to numerous products, including answering machines , fax machines , cordless phones , computer modems and the early, dialup Internet . In the 1980s, after some consumers began buying phones from other manufacturers anyway, AT&T changed its policy by selling customers

3186-709: The Asia Pacific ; its regional headquarters is located in Hong Kong. The company is also active in Mexico, and on November 7, 2014, it was announced that Mexican carrier Iusacell would be acquired by AT&T. The acquisition was approved in January 2015. On April 30, 2015, AT&T acquired wireless operations Nextel Mexico from NII Holdings (now AT&T Mexico). AT&T's current board of directors as of March 2024: The current management as of March 2024 includes: According to OpenSecrets , AT&T

3304-531: The Baby Bells , Ameritech sold some of its Wisconsin landlines to CenturyTel , in 1998; BellSouth sold some of its lines to MebTel, during the 2000s; US West sold many historically Bell landlines to Lynch Communications and Pacific Telecom , in the 1990s; Verizon sold many of its New England lines to FairPoint in 2008, and its West Virginia operations to Frontier Communications in 2010. On October 25, 2014, Frontier Communications took over control of

3422-658: The Bell Atlantic and the GTE merger. 1998 revenues were $ 46 billion, placing SBC among the top 15 companies in the Fortune 500 . In January 1999, SBC announced it would purchase Comcast Cellular, for $ 1.7 billion, plus $ 1.3 billion of debt. During 1999 SBC continued to prepare to be allowed to provide long-distance phone service. In February SBC acquired up to ten percent of Williams Companies' telecommunications division for about $ 500 million, who were building

3540-687: The Consumer Product Safety Commission (1975). In recent decades, this regulatory structure of independent federal agencies has gone out of fashion. The agencies created after the 1970s generally have single heads appointed by the President and are divisions inside executive Cabinet Departments (e.g., the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (1970) or the Transportation Security Administration (2002)). The trend

3658-564: The First transcontinental telephone call in 1915. This connection used a system of lines with loading coils and the Audion vacuum tube repeater first tested between New York and Philadelphia in 1913. Transatlantic services started in 1927 using two-way radio , but the first trans-Atlantic telephone cable did not arrive until Sept. 25, 1956, with TAT-1 . As a result of a combination of regulatory actions by government and actions by AT&T,

History of AT&T - Misplaced Pages Continue

3776-773: The Kingsbury Commitment , throughout most of the twentieth century. This monopoly was known as the Bell System , and during this period, AT&T was also known by the nickname Ma Bell . In 1982, U.S. regulators broke up the AT&T monopoly , requiring AT&T to divest its local subsidiaries, which it did by grouping them into seven individual companies. These new companies were known as Regional Bell Operating Companies, or more informally, Baby Bells. AT&T continued to operate long-distance services but faced increasing competition from competitors such as MCI and Sprint . Southwestern Bell Corporation (SBC)

3894-811: The Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 ("4R Act"), the Motor Carrier Act of 1980 and the Staggers Rail Act of 1980. Senator Fred R. Harris of Oklahoma strongly advocated the abolition of the Commission. In December 1995, when most of the ICC's powers had been eliminated or repealed, Congress finally abolished the agency with the ICC Termination Act of 1995 . Final Chair Gail McDonald oversaw transferring its remaining functions to

4012-705: The Regional Bell Operating Companies , the former Southwestern Bell Company, in 2005, and the combined company became known as AT&T Inc. The formation of the Bell Telephone Company superseded an agreement between Alexander Graham Bell and his financiers, principal among them Gardiner Greene Hubbard and Thomas Sanders. Renamed the National Bell Telephone Company in March 1879, it became

4130-692: The Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing at the Microelectronics Orlando, Florida , plant. In 1995, AT&T purchased long-distance provider Alaska Communications System. FCC approval required the company be run as an AT&T subsidiary rather than a more likely absorption into AT&T Communications , giving the company the AT&T Alascom name. In 1997, AT&T hired former IBM executive C Michael Armstrong as its chief executive officer . Armstrong's vision

4248-400: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) follows in its rulemaking processes. The FCC would have to act in a more transparent way as a result of this bill, forced to accept public input about regulations. AT&T's Executive Vice President of Federal Relations, Tim McKone, said that the bill's "much needed institutional reforms will help arm the agency with the tools to keep pace with

4366-649: The transistor , the photovoltaic cell , the Unix operating system , and the C programming language . AT&T ranked 13th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military contracts. In 1949, the Justice Department filed an antitrust suit aimed at forcing the divestiture of Western Electric, which was settled seven years later by AT&T's agreement to confine its products and services to common carrier telecommunications and license its patents to "all interested parties." A key effect of this

4484-505: The 1930s. Of those lines that survived, the stronger ones were not interested in supporting the weaker ones. Congress repudiated Ripley's Plan with the Transportation Act of 1940, and the consolidation idea was scrapped. Although racial discrimination was never a major focus of its efforts, the ICC had to address civil rights issues when passengers filed complaints. The limitation on railroad rates in 1906-07 depreciated

4602-625: The AT&T landline network in Connecticut after being approved by state utility regulators. The deal was worth about $ 2 billion, and included Frontier inheriting about 2,500 of AT&T's employees and many of AT&T's buildings. The company is headquartered at Whitacre Tower in downtown Dallas, Texas. On June 27, 2008, AT&T announced that it would move its corporate headquarters from downtown San Antonio to One AT&T Plaza in downtown Dallas. The company said that it moved to gain better access to its customers and operations throughout

4720-588: The American Bell Telephone Company in March 1880. By 1881, it had bought a controlling interest in the Western Electric Company from Western Union . Only three years earlier, Western Union had turned down Gardiner Hubbard's offer to sell it all rights to the telephone for $ 100,000 ($ 3.16 million in 2009 dollars). In 1880, the management of American Bell created what would become AT&T Long Lines. The project

4838-526: The American Telephone and Telegraph Company bought the assets of American Bell; this was because Massachusetts corporate laws (which limited market capitalization to ten million dollars, preventing the direct growth of American Bell itself) were more restrictive than those of New York , where AT&T was headquartered. With this transfer of assets, AT&T became the parent of the Bell System . By 1902 there were 1,317,000 telephones under AT&T. National long-distance service reached San Francisco with

History of AT&T - Misplaced Pages Continue

4956-728: The American consumer's new ability to purchase phones outright, AT&T and the Bell System lost the considerable revenues earned from phone leasing by local Bell companies. Forced to compete with other manufacturers for new phone sales, the aging Western Electric phone designs still marketed through AT&T failed to sell, and Western Electric eventually closed all of its U.S. phone manufacturing plants. AT&T, reduced in value by about 70%, continued to run all its long-distance services through AT&T Communications (the new name of AT&T Long Lines), although it lost some market share in

5074-580: The Caribbean under the Vrio brand; and Advertising and Analytics, since renamed Xandr . On July 13, 2017, it was reported that AT&T would introduce a cloud-based DVR streaming service. It hoped to create a unified platform across DirecTV and its DirecTV Now streaming service, with U-verse to be added shortly afterward. The service, named HBO Max , launched in May 2020. On September 12, 2017, it

5192-474: The ICC to set maximum railroad rates, and extended the agency's authority to cover bridges, terminals, ferries, sleeping cars, express companies and oil pipelines. A long-standing controversy was how to interpret language in the Act that banned long haul-short haul fare discrimination. The Mann-Elkins Act of 1910 addressed this question by strengthening ICC authority over railroad rates. This amendment also expanded

5310-417: The ICC's jurisdiction to include regulation of telephone , telegraph and wireless companies. The Valuation Act of 1913 required the ICC to organize a Bureau of Valuation that would assess the value of railroad property. This information would be used to set rates. The Esch-Cummins Act of 1920 expanded the ICC's rate-setting responsibilities, and the agency in turn required updated valuation data from

5428-405: The ICC's powers. The ICC became the United States' investigation agency for railroad accidents. Congress expanded the commission's powers through subsequent legislation. The 1893 Railroad Safety Appliance Act gave the ICC jurisdiction over railroad safety, removing this authority from the states, and this was followed with amendments in 1903 and 1910. The Hepburn Act of 1906 authorized

5546-836: The ICC, later agencies tended to be organized as multi-headed independent commissions with staggered terms for the commissioners. At the federal level, agencies patterned after the ICC included the Federal Trade Commission (1914), the Federal Communications Commission (1934), the Securities and Exchange Commission (1934), the National Labor Relations Board (1935), the Civil Aeronautics Board (1940), Postal Regulatory Commission (1970) and

5664-487: The IPO due to market conditions. As of 2019, AT&T is the world's largest telecommunications company. AT&T is also the largest provider of mobile telephone services and the largest provider of fixed telephone (landline) services in the United States. In September 2019, activist investor Elliott Management revealed that it had purchased $ 3.2 billion of AT&T stock (a 1.2% equity interest), and had pushed for

5782-572: The Internet speed of today's marketplace. It will also ensure that outmoded regulatory practices for today's competitive marketplace are properly placed in the dustbin of history." In May 2018, reports emerged that AT&T made 12 monthly payments between January and December 2017 to Essential Consultants, a company set up by President Donald Trump 's lawyer Michael Cohen , totaling $ 600,000. Although initial reports on May 8 mentioned only four monthly payments totaling $ 200,000, documents obtained by

5900-696: The Interstate Commerce Act banned "personal discrimination" and required shipping rates to be "just and reasonable." President Cleveland appointed Thomas M. Cooley as the first chairman of the ICC. Cooley had been Dean of the University of Michigan Law School and Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court . The Commission had a troubled start because the law that created it failed to give it adequate enforcement powers. The Commission is, or can be made, of great use to

6018-530: The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, which was signed into law by President Grover Cleveland . The creation of the commission was the result of widespread and longstanding anti-railroad agitation. Western farmers, specifically those of the Grange Movement , were the dominant force behind the unrest, but Westerners generally — especially those in rural areas — believed that the railroads possessed economic power that they systematically abused. A central issue

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6136-576: The Interstate Commerce Commission to prepare and adopt a plan for the consolidation of the railway properties of the United States into a limited number of systems. Between 1920 and 1923, William Z. Ripley , a professor of political economy at Harvard University, wrote up ICC's plan for the regional consolidation of the U.S. railways. His plan became known as the Ripley Plan . In 1929 the ICC published Ripley's Plan under

6254-595: The Mexican wireless business of NII Holdings . AT&T merged the two companies to create AT&T Mexico . In July 2015, AT&T purchased DirecTV for $ 48.5 billion. AT&T then announced plans to converge its existing U-verse home internet and IPTV brands with DirecTV , to create AT&T Entertainment . On October 22, 2016, AT&T announced a deal to buy Time Warner for $ 108.7 billion in an effort to increase its media holdings. On November 20, 2017, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim filed

6372-537: The Microelectronics Dallas, Texas Power Systems plant. In October 1992, AT&T was the first company to win two Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Awards in the same year. One award was for the service category through AT&T Universal Card Services, based in Jacksonville, Florida , and the other was for the quality manufacturing process of AT&T Network Systems/Transmission Systems,

6490-802: The Office of Motor Carriers (OMC) under the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The OMC inherited many of the "Economic" regulations enforced by the ICC in addition to the safety regulations imposed on motor carriers. In January 2000 the OMC became the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), within the U.S. Department of Transportation . Prior to its abolition, the ICC gave identification numbers to motor carriers for which it issued licenses. The identification numbers were generally in

6608-578: The Private Enterprise Board of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC is a nonprofit organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives that drafts and shares model state-level legislation for distribution among state governments in the United States. During the period of 1998 to 2019, the company expended US$ 380.1 million on lobbying in

6726-1141: The Spanish–American War, the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, double-digit inflation, double-digit unemployment, the Great Depression, the gasoline crisis, and the Watergate fiasco. Guess which one is now trying to tell the other one how to run its business? Western Electric was renamed AT&T Technologies and was divided into several units focused on specific customer groups, such as AT&T Network Systems and AT&T Consumer Products . It, along with Bell Labs , would be fully merged and absorbed into American Telephone and Telegraph Company in 1991. In 1991, AT&T discontinued telegraph services. After its own attempt to penetrate

6844-587: The Trump administration's planned tax reforms, as well as about potential changes to net neutrality policies under the new FCC. Chairman of the FCC Ajit Pai denied Cohen ever inquired about net neutrality on AT&T's behalf. A spokesperson for AT&T said that the company had been contacted by the Special Counsel investigation led by Robert Mueller regarding the payments, and had provided all

6962-539: The United States. A key political issue for AT&T has been the question of which businesses win the right to profit by providing broadband internet access in the United States. The company has also lobbied in support of several federal bills. AT&T supported the Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2013 (H.R. 3675; 113th Congress) , a bill that would make a number of changes to procedures that

7080-577: The United States. This company maintained an effective monopoly on local telephone service in the United States until anti-trust regulators agreed to allow AT&T to retain Western Electric and enter general trades computer manufacture and sales in return for its offer to split the Bell System by divesting itself of ownership of the Bell Operating Companies in 1982. AT&T Corporation was eventually purchased by one of

7198-407: The United States. While there were many "independent telephone companies", General Telephone being the most significant, the Bell System was far larger than all the others, and widely considered a monopoly itself. For many years, AT&T had been permitted to retain its monopoly status under the assumption that it was a natural monopoly . The first erosion to this monopoly occurred in 1956 where

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7316-469: The better-known AT&T name and brand, with the original AT&T Corporation still existing as the long-distance landline subsidiary of the merged company. The current AT&T Inc. claims the original AT&T Corporation's history (dating to 1877) as its own, but retains SBC's pre-2005 corporate structure and stock price history. As well, all SEC filings before 2005 are under SBC, not AT&T. AT&T made an attempt in 2011 to purchase T-Mobile for

7434-439: The bicycle railroad. Based on his own testimony and that of a Massachusetts congressman, Boynton won release on May 28, 1920, overcoming testimony of the ICC's chief clerk that Boynton was virtually a daily visitor at ICC offices, seeking Commission adoption of his proposal to revolutionize the railroad industry. Congress passed various deregulation measures in the 1970s and early 1980s which diminished ICC authority, including

7552-451: The breach. AT&T was also reported to have been affected by a 2024 attack from the Salt Typhoon advanced persistent threat linked to the Chinese government . Of the eight companies that were part of the Breakup of the Bell System, these five are a part of the current AT&T: AT&T's wireline business provides services in 22 states. The following companies have become defunct or were sold under SBC/AT&T ownership: Of

7670-404: The cable telecom field. In January 1998, SBC announced it would take over the Southern New England Telephone Company (SNET) for $ 4.4 billion in stock (the FCC would approve in October 1998). SBC also won a court judgment that would make it easier for RBOCs to enter the long-distance phone service, but it was being challenged by AT&T and the FCC. In May 1998, Ameritech and SBC announced

7788-680: The company changed its name to SBC Communications Inc. In early 1997 C. Michael Armstrong was named CEO, and Armstrong appointed John Zeglis as president later in that same year. By 1998, the company was in the top 15 of the Fortune 500, and by 1999, when Zeglis assumed the positions of chairman and CEO of AT&T Wireless , AT&T was part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (lasting through 2015). Zeglis ended his service as president of AT&T in 2001 and resigned from his positions in AT&T Wireless in 2004. On November 18, 2005, SBC Communications purchased its former parent, AT&T Corporation for $ 16 billion. After this purchase, SBC adopted

7906-441: The company due to new FCC rules. In 1996, SBC announced it would acquire Pacific Telesis Group, a Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC) in California and Nevada. 1997 brought rumors of a proposed merger between AT&T Corporation (the USA's largest long-distance provider) and SBC (the USA's largest local provider). The FCC disapproved of the merger, and it came to end. Later in 1997, SBC sold its last two cable companies, exiting

8024-402: The company is reported to shareholders on an annual basis and a matter of public record. Where performance has been restated, the most recent statement of performance from an annual report is used. AT&T reported Total CO2e emissions (Direct + Indirect) for the twelve months ending 31 December 2020 at 5,788 Kt (-737 /-11.3% y-o-y) and plans to reduce emissions by 63% by 2030 from

8142-421: The company to divest assets to improve its share value. On March 4, 2020, AT&T announced its intent to perform major cost-cutting moves, including cuts to capital investment, and plans to promote AT&T TV (which officially launched nationally on March 2) as its primary pay television service offering. AT&T stated it would still primarily promote DirecTV "where cable broadband is not prevalent", and as

8260-471: The company was renamed WarnerMedia. Three months after completing the acquisition, AT&T reorganized into four main units: Communications, including consumer and business wireline telephony, AT&T Mobility, and consumer entertainment video services; WarnerMedia, including Turner cable television networks, Warner Bros. film and television production, and HBO ; AT&T Latin America, consisting of wireless service in Mexico and video in Latin America and

8378-404: The computer marketplace failed, in 1991, AT&T acquired NCR Corporation (National Cash Register), hoping to capitalize on the burgeoning personal computer and Unix networked server markets, but was unable to extract lasting financial or technological gains from the merger . After deregulation of the U.S. telecom industry via the Telecommunications Act of 1996 , NCR was divested again. At

8496-586: The end of microwave-based long distance. The rest of the telephone monopoly lasted until January 8, 1982, the date of settlement of United States v. AT&T , a 1974 United States Department of Justice antitrust suit against AT&T . Under the settlement, AT&T ("Ma Bell") agreed to divest its local exchange service operating companies, in return for a chance to go into the computer business (see AT&T Computer Systems ). AT&T's local operations were split into seven independent Regional Bell operating companies , commonly known as " Baby Bells ". With

8614-462: The ensuing years to competitors MCI and Sprint . A sign that hung in many Bell facilities in 1983 read: There are two giant entities at work in our country, and they both have an amazing influence on our daily lives ... one has given us radar, sonar, stereo, teletype, the transistor, hearing aids, artificial larynxes, talking movies, and the telephone. The other has given us the Civil War,

8732-426: The federal government nationalized the entire telecommunications industry, with national security as the stated intent. Rates were regulated so that customers in large cities would pay higher rates to subsidize those in more remote areas. Vail was appointed to manage the telephone system with AT&T being paid a percentage of the telephone revenues. AT&T profited well from the nationalization arrangement which ended

8850-411: The firm eventually gained what most regard as monopoly status. In 1907, AT&T president Theodore Vail made it known that he was pursuing a goal of "One Policy, One System, Universal Service." AT&T began purchasing competitors, which attracted the attention of antitrust regulators. To avoid antitrust action, in a deal with the government, Vail agreed to the Kingsbury Commitment of 1913. One of

8968-535: The first regional Bell telephone company to acquire a cable company outside its service area. In 1994, it called off a $ 1.6 billion acquisition attempt for 40% of Cox Cable because of FCC rules on cable companies. SBC would later start selling its current cable company interests. In 1995, Southwestern Bell Corporation became SBC Communications Inc. They then absorbed the Southwestern Bell Telecom division (which made telephone equipment) into

9086-446: The form of "ICC MC-000000". When the ICC was dissolved, the function of licensing interstate motor carriers was transferred to FMCSA. All interstate motor carriers that transport freight moving across state lines have a USDOT number, such as "USDOT 000000." There are private carriers, e.g. Walmart that move their own freight requiring only a USDOT number, and carriers with authority that haul freight for hire that are still required to have

9204-427: The former Bell System , and includes four of the seven "Baby Bells" along with the original AT&T Corp., including the long-distance division . AT&T was founded as Bell Telephone Company by Alexander Graham Bell , Thomas Watson and Gardiner Greene Hubbard after Bell's patenting of the telephone in 1875. By 1881, Bell Telephone Company had become the American Bell Telephone Company. One of its subsidiaries

9322-515: The headquarters for AT&T Mobility, with significant offices in Redmond, Washington, the former home of AT&T Wireless . Bedminster, New Jersey, is the headquarters for the company's Global Business Services group and AT&T Labs and is where the original AT&T Corp. remains located. St. Louis continues as home to the company's Directory operations, AT&T Advertising Solutions . AT&T also offers services in many locations throughout

9440-567: The holding companies it had purchased d/b/a names based on their general region. On January 31, 2005, SBC announced that it would purchase AT&T Corporation for more than US$ 16 billion. The announcement came almost eight years after SBC and AT&T (originally known as the American Telephone and Telegraph Company) called off their first merger talks and nearly a year after initial merger talks between AT&T Corp. and BellSouth fell apart. AT&T stockholders' meeting in Denver, approved

9558-486: The incentive of these companies to build competing long-distance lines. In 1913, after vacuum-tube inventor Lee de Forest began to suffer financial difficulties, AT&T bought De Forest's vacuum-tube patents for the bargain price of $ 50,000 ($ 1.54 million in 2009 dollars). In particular, AT&T acquired ownership of the ' Audion ', the first triode (three-element) vacuum tube , which greatly amplified telephone signals. The patent increased AT&T's control over

9676-688: The information requested in November and December 2017. In early 2019, the Democratic House Judiciary requested records related to the AT&T-Time Warner merger from the White House . While it has expressed support for LGBTQ causes, AT&T has also donated to sponsors of anti-transgender legislation in several US states, especially those predominantly Republican -governed, including Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas and Florida. The financial performance of

9794-462: The lab. Also in 1999, AT&T paid US$ 5 billion to purchase IBM's Global Network business, which became AT&T Global Network Services, LLC. As part of the purchase agreement, IBM granted AT&T a five-year, US$ 5-billion contract to handle much of IBM's networking needs, and AT&T outsourced some of its application processing and data management work to IBM. IBM also committed to billing and installation for AT&T's long-distance customers in

9912-411: The latter's branding, history, and stock trading symbol, as well as a version of its iconic logo. The merged entity, naming itself AT&T Inc., launched on December 30, 2005. The newly merged and renamed AT&T Inc. acquired BellSouth Corporation in 2006, the last independent Baby Bell, making the two companies' joint venture Cingular Wireless (which had itself acquired AT&T Wireless in 2004)

10030-538: The local Bell monopoly. Many phones made by Western Electric thus carried the following disclaimer permanently molded into their housings: "BELL SYSTEM PROPERTY — NOT FOR SALE." Telephones were also labeled with a sticker marking the Bell Operating Company that owned the telephone. In 1968, the Federal Communications Commission allowed the Carterfone and other devices to be connected directly to

10148-481: The manufacture and distribution of long-distance telephone services and allowed the Bell System to build the United States' first coast-to-coast telephone line. Thanks to the pressures of World War I , AT&T and RCA owned all useful patents on vacuum tubes. RCA staked a position in wireless communication; AT&T pursued the use of tubes in telephone amplifiers. Some patent allies and partners in RCA were angered when

10266-580: 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. AT%26T AT&T Inc. , an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company , is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas , Texas . It

10384-752: The parent company after the American Bell Telephone Company sold its assets to its subsidiary. During most of the 20th century, AT&T had a monopoly on phone service in the United States. The company was formally rebranded as AT&T Corporation in 1994. The 1982 United States v. AT&T antitrust lawsuit resulted in the divestiture of AT&T's ("Ma Bell") local operating subsidiaries which were grouped into seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), commonly referred to as "Baby Bells", resulting in seven independent companies, including Southwestern Bell Corporation (SBC). The latter changed its name to SBC Communications Inc. in 1995. In 2005, SBC purchased its former parent AT&T Corp. and took on

10502-402: The phone's housing, retaining ownership of the mechanical components — which still required paying AT&T a monthly leasing fee. For most of the 20th century, AT&T subsidiary AT&T Long Lines thus enjoyed a near-total monopoly on long-distance telephone service in the United States. AT&T also controlled 22 Bell Operating Companies which provided local telephone service to most of

10620-472: The project and could not even agree on the alliance's name. By mid-2001, customers were being directed to sign contracts with the parent companies, and Concert Communications Services , as the venture was eventually known, was scrapped in October that year. In 1999, AT&T acquired the Olivetti & Oracle Research Lab , from Olivetti and Oracle Corporation . In 2002, it closed down the research part of

10738-598: The public than two or more. Eventually, AT&T's market share amounted to what most would regard as a monopolistic share. AT&T, RCA, and their patent allies and partners finally settled their disputes in 1926 by compromise. AT&T decided to focus on the telephone business as a communications common carrier and sold its broadcasting subsidiary Broadcasting Company of America to RCA. The assets included station WEAF , which for some time had broadcast from AT&T headquarters in New York City. In return, RCA signed

10856-575: The railroads. In March 1920, the ICC had Eben Moody Boynton, the inventor of the Boynton Bicycle Railroad , committed as a lunatic to an institution in Washington, D.C. Boynton's monorail electric light rail system, it was reported, had the potential to revolutionize transportation, superseding then-current train travel. ICC officials said that they had Boynton committed because he was "worrying them to death" in his promotion of

10974-590: The railroads. The enlarged process led to a major increase in ICC staff, and the valuations continued for almost 20 years. The valuation process turned out to be of limited use in helping the ICC set rates fairly. In 1934, Congress transferred the telecommunications authority to the new Federal Communications Commission . In 1935, Congress passed the Motor Carrier Act, which extended ICC authority to regulate interstate bus lines and trucking as common carriers. The Transportation Act of 1920 directed

11092-406: The railroads. It satisfies the popular clamor for a government supervision of the railroads, while at the same time that supervision is almost entirely nominal. Following the passage of the 1887 act, the ICC proceeded to set maximum shipping rates for railroads. However, in the late 1890s, several railroads challenged the agency's ratemaking authority in litigation , and the courts severely limited

11210-539: The rates that companies could charge and the specific services and equipment they could offer. AT&T increased its control of the telephone system through its leasing arrangements for telephones and telephone equipment made by its subsidiary, Western Electric . Like most telephones of the time in the United States, Western Electric-made phones were owned not by individual customers, but by local Bell System telephone companies — all of which were in turn owned by AT&T, which also owned Western Electric itself. Each phone

11328-511: The residential telephone business — declaring in the process that it would no longer market residential telephone service. Instead, its residential focus shifted to offering a voice service over a broadband Internet connection called AT&T CallVantage . One of the new companies formed by the breakup of AT&T was Southwestern Bell Corporation. This company grew continuously over the years until it acquired AT&T in 2005. After this acquisition, SBC took on AT&T's name and branding, and this

11446-412: The same time, the majority of AT&T Technologies and the renowned Bell Labs was spun off as Lucent Technologies . The industry as a whole had many other reorganizations since the 1990s, both due to deregulation and because of technological advances reducing demand and pricing power in telecommunications. In 1992, AT&T Technologies received the Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing at

11564-630: The three terms of the agreement forbade AT&T from acquiring any more independent phone companies without the approval of the Interstate Commerce Commission . G.W. Brock says in The Telecommunications Industry: The Dynamics Of Market Structure , "[The] provision allowed Bell and the independents to exchange telephones in order to give each other geographical monopolies. So long as only one company served

11682-593: The title Complete Plan of Consolidation . Numerous hearings were held by ICC regarding the plan under the topic "In the Matter of Consolidation of the Railways of the United States into a Limited Number of Systems". The proposed 21 regional railroads were as follows: There were 100 terminal railroads that were also proposed. Below is a sample: Many small railroads failed during the Great Depression of

11800-493: The two companies' research on tubes began to overlap, and there were many patent disputes. Around 1917, the idea that everyone in the country should have phone service and that the government should promote that began being discussed in government. AT&T agreed, saying in a 1917 annual report: "A combination of like activities under proper control and regulation, the service to the public would be better, more progressive, efficient, and economical than competitive systems." In 1918

11918-528: The value of railroad securities, a factor in causing the panic of 1907 . Some economists and historians, such as Milton Friedman assert that existing railroad interests took advantage of ICC regulations to strengthen their control of the industry and prevent competition, constituting regulatory capture . Economist David D. Friedman argues that the ICC always served the railroads as a cartelizing agent and used its authority over other forms of transportation to prevent them, where possible, from undercutting

12036-557: The world, and to the key technology partners, suppliers, innovation and human resources needed as it continues to grow, domestically and internationally. AT&T Inc. previously relocated its corporate headquarters to San Antonio from St. Louis, Missouri, in 1992, when it was then named Southwestern Bell Corporation. The company's Telecom Operations group, which serves residential and regional business customers in 22 U.S. states, remains in San Antonio. Atlanta, Georgia, continues to be

12154-522: The world. It intended to use these assets to bridge the so-called " last mile " and break the Regional Bell Companies' access-monopoly of the consumer household for data and telephony services, but the wager was costly, substantially increasing the company's debt. AT&T acquired TCI in a $ 48 billion all-stock transaction including the assumption of $ 16 billion of debt. AT&T acquired MediaOne for $ 54 billion in cash and stock, after

12272-637: Was Zane Edison Barnes. In 1987, SBC bought Metromedia 's cellular and paging business. That, in turn, boosted the company to the third-largest cellular communications company in the United States, behind McCaw Cellular and Pacific Telesis . In January 1990, Edward Whitacre took over as president of Southwestern Bell. Headquarters were moved from St. Louis to San Antonio , Texas , in February 1993. It acquired two cable companies in Maryland and Virginia from Hauser Communications for $ 650 million, becoming

12390-600: Was a bidder in the proposed sale of Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment, purchased the mobile gaming studio Playdemic from WBIE for US$ 1.4 billion in June 2021. In September 2021, Fox Corporation acquired TMZ from WarnerMedia in a deal worth about $ 50 million with TMZ being operated under the Fox Entertainment division. On December 21, 2021, AT&T announced that they had agreed to sell Xandr (and AppNexus ) to Microsoft for an undisclosed price. The deal

12508-501: Was completed in June 2022. On April 8, 2022, the spinoff of WarnerMedia and its subsequent merger with Discovery, Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery was completed. As a result of this merger, HBO Max and other video services were dropped from AT&T's unlimited plan offering. AT&T was one of several clients of Snowflake Inc. that had data stolen in a 2024 breach. Phone and text logs from May 1, 2022 to October 31, 2022 of "nearly all" AT&T customers were exposed as part of

12626-439: Was leased from AT&T on a monthly basis by customers, who generally paid for their phone and its connection many times over in cumulative lease fees. This monopoly made millions of extra dollars for AT&T, which had the secondary effect of greatly limiting phone choices and styles. AT&T strictly enforced policies against buying and using phones by other manufacturers that had not first been transferred to and re-rented from

12744-479: Was one of the companies created by the breakup of AT&T Corp. The company soon started a series of acquisitions, including the 1987 acquisition of Metromedia mobile business and the acquisition of several cable companies in the early 1990s. In the latter half of the 1990s, the company acquired several other telecommunications companies, including two Baby Bells ( Pacific Telesis Group and Ameritech Corporation ), while selling its cable business. During this time,

12862-599: Was proposed, but ultimately abandoned due to COVID-19 pandemic -related growth in the video gaming industry, as well as a positive reception to upcoming DC Comics , Lego Star Wars , and Harry Potter titles from fans and critics. Crunchyroll was sold to Sony 's Funimation for US$ 1.175 billion in December 2020, with the acquisition closing in August 2021. On February 25, 2021, AT&T announced that it would spin-off DirecTV, U-Verse TV, and DirecTV Stream into

12980-439: Was rate discrimination between similarly situated customers and communities. Other potent issues included alleged attempts by railroads to obtain influence over city and state governments and the widespread practice of granting free transportation in the form of yearly passes to opinion leaders (elected officials, newspaper editors, ministers, and so on) so as to dampen any opposition to railroad practices. Various sections of

13098-428: Was reported that AT&T planned to launch a new cable TV-like service for delivery over-the-top over its own or a competitor's broadband network sometime the following year. On March 7, 2018, the company prepared to sell a minority stake of DirecTV Latin America through an IPO , creating a new holding company for those assets named Vrio Corp. On April 18, just a day before the public debut of Vrio, AT&T canceled

13216-451: Was subsequently acquired by Comcast in 2002, and AT&T Wireless merged with Cingular Wireless LLC in 2004. The merged wireless phone company operated as Cingular until 2007 when it became AT&T Mobility . In 2004, the U.S. government eliminated equal access regulations that allowed long-distance phone companies to access the networks owned by the regional Bell carriers at fixed rates. This ultimately caused AT&T to move away from

13334-406: Was the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), established in 1885. On December 30, 1899, AT&T acquired the assets of its parent American Bell Telephone, becoming the new parent company. AT&T established a network of local telephone subsidiaries in the United States. AT&T and its subsidiaries held a phone service monopoly , authorized in 1913 by government authorities with

13452-472: Was the acquisition of expensive rights-of-way necessary for the construction of a long-distance telephone network. In light of this, the FCC permitted MCI (Microwave Communications, Inc) to sell communication services to large businesses. This technical-economic argument against the necessity of AT&T's monopoly position would hold for a mere fifteen years until the beginning of the fiber-optics revolution sounded

13570-514: Was the first of its kind to create a nationwide long-distance network with a commercially viable cost-structure. This project was formally incorporated into a separate company named American Telephone and Telegraph Company on March 3, 1885. Starting from New York , the network reached Chicago in 1892. Bell's patent on the telephone expired in 1893, but the company's much larger customer base made its service much more valuable than alternatives and substantial growth continued. On December 30, 1899,

13688-418: Was the fourteenth-largest donor to United States federal political campaigns and committees from 1989 to 2019, having contributed more than US$ 84.1 million , 42% of which went to Republicans and 58% of which went to Democrats . In 2005, AT&T was among 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $ 250,000 to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush . Bill Leahy, representing AT&T, sits on

13806-511: Was to ban AT&T from selling computers despite its key role in electronics research and development. Nonetheless, technological innovation continued. For example, AT&T commissioned the first experimental communications satellite , Telstar I in 1962. Public utility commissions in state and local jurisdictions regulated the Bell System and all the other telephone companies. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulated all services across state lines. These commissions controlled

13924-425: Was to change AT&T from a long-distance carrier into a global "telecommunications supermarket ", eying Internet services for the booming dot-com industry . Armstrong's most prominent strategy was buying significant cable television assets. After acquiring John Malone's TCI and Media One (gaining through the latter a 25% share of Time Warner Cable ), AT&T was the largest provider of cable television in

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