AT&T Inc. (stylized as at&t) is an American multinational telecommunications corporation, headquartered at Whitacre Tower in downtown Dallas, Texas.

[4] AT&T is the second-largest provider of mobile telephony and the largest provider of fixed telephony[5] in the United States, and also provides broadband subscription television services. AT&T is the thirdlargest company in Texas (the largest non-oil company, behind only ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, and also the largest Dallas company).[6] As of May 2013, AT&T is the 21stlargest company in the world by market value,[7] and the 13th-largest non-oil company.[8] As of 2014, it is also the 20th-largest mobile telecom operator in the world, with over 250 million mobile customers.[9] The current iteration of AT&T Inc. began its existence as Southwestern Bell Corporation, one of seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOC's) created in 1983 in the divestiture of parent company American Telephone and Telegraph Company (founded 1885, later AT&T Corp.) due to the United States v. AT&T antitrust lawsuit. Southwestern Bell changed its name to SBC Communications Inc. in 1995. In 2005, SBC purchased former parent AT&T Corp. and took on its branding, with the merged entity naming itself AT&T Inc. and using the iconic AT&T Corp. logo and stock-trading symbol. The current AT&T reconstitutes much of the former Bell System and includes ten of the original 22 Bell Operating Companies, along with one it partially owned (Southern New England Telephone), and the original long distance division.[10]

Contents

1 History 2 Political contributions and lobbying o 2.1 American Legislative Exchange Council o 2.2 Legislation 3 Landline operating companies o 3.1 Former operating companies o 3.2 Future of rural landlines 4 Corporate structure 5 Corporate governance 6 Criticism and controversies o 6.1 Hemisphere database o 6.2 Censorship o 6.3 Privacy controversy o 6.4 Intellectual property filtering o 6.5 Discrimination against local Public-access television channels o 6.6 Information security o 6.7 Accusations of enabling fraud 7 Naming rights and sponsorships o 7.1 Buildings o 7.2 Venues o 7.3 Sponsorships o 7.4 Miscellaneous 8 Global presence 9 Enterprise SIP Trunking Services 10 Alliances 11 See also

12 References 13 External links

History
Main article: History of AT&T

Whitacre Tower: AT&T's corporate headquarters in Dallas, Texas AT&T can indirectly trace its origin back to the original Bell Telephone Company founded by Alexander Graham Bell after his invention of the telephone. One of that company's subsidiaries was American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), established in 1885, which acquired the Bell Company on December 31, 1899 for legal reasons, leaving AT&T as the main company. AT&T established a network of subsidiaries in the United States that held a government-authorized phone service monopoly, formalized with 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. For periods of time, the former AT&T was the world's largest phone company. In 1984, US regulators broke up the AT&T monopoly, requiring AT&T to divest its regional subsidiaries and turning them each into 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 thanks to the breakup, faced competition from new competitors such as MCI and Sprint. Southwestern Bell was one of the companies created by the breakup of AT&T. It wasn't long before the company started a series of acquisitions. This includes the 1987 acquisition of Metromedia mobile business, and the acquisition of several cable companies in the early 1990s. In the later half of the 1990s, the company acquired several other telecommunications companies, including some baby bells, while selling its cable business. During this time, the company changed its name to SBC Communications. By 1998, the company was in the top 15 of the Fortune 500, and by 1999 the company was part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

In 2005, SBC purchased AT&T for $16 billion. After this purchase, SBC adopted the AT&T name and brand. The original 1885 AT&T still exists as the long-distance phone subsidiary of this company. Today, the current AT&T owns 11 of the original 24 Bell System companies. In 2013, the Spanish Government would have dampened a friendly takeover attempt of AT&T on Telefnica, valued in 122,000 million euros. Such an impediment would be justified in the strategic nature of the company and AT&T would have taken a step backward.[11] AT&T today is the seventh-largest company in the United States and the 14th-largest in the world. It provides landline phone service, long-distance, mobile phone service and cable television service. In September 2013, AT&T announced it would expand into Latin America through a collaboration with Carlos Slims America Movil.[12] On December 17, 2013, AT&T announced plans to sell its Connecticut wireline operations to Stamford-based Frontier Communications. Roughly 2,700 wireline employees supporting AT&Ts operations in Connecticut will transfer with the business to Frontier, as well as 900,000 voice connections, 415,000 broadband connections, and 180,000 U-verse video subscribers.[13]

Political contributions and lobbying

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, AT&T is the second-largest donor to United States political campaigns,[14] and the top American corporate donor,[15] having contributed more than US$47.7 million since 1990, 56% and 44% of which went to Republican and Democratic recipients, respectively.[16] Also, during the period of 1998 to 2010, the company expended US$130 million on lobbying in the United States.[15] 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.[17] In 2005, AT&T was among 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush.[18][19][20]

American Legislative Exchange Council

Bill Leahy, representing AT&T, sits on the Private Enterprise Board of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).[21]

Legislation
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 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) follows in its rulemaking processes.[22] The FCC would have to act in a more transparent way as a result of this bill, forced to accept public input about regulations.[23] Executive Vice President - 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 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."[24]

Landline operating companies

AT&T payphone signage Of the twenty-four companies that were part of the Bell System, eleven are a part of the current AT&T:[25]

BellSouth Telecommunications (formerly known as Southern Bell; includes former South Central Bell) Illinois Bell Indiana Bell Michigan Bell Ohio Bell Pacific Bell (formerly Pacific Telephone & Telegraph) o Nevada Bell (formerly known as Bell Telephone Company of Nevada) Southwestern Bell Wisconsin Bell (formerly Wisconsin Telephone) Southern New England Telephone (sale pending to Frontier Communications)

Former operating companies

The following companies have gone to defunct status under SBC/AT&T ownership:

Southwestern Bell Texas a separate operating company created by SBC, absorbed operations of original SWBT on December 30, 2001 and became Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P.; eventually merged into SWBT Inc. in 2007 which became the current Southwestern Bell

Woodbury Telephone merged into Southern New England Telephone on June 1, 2007.

Future of rural landlines

AT&T has stated that it will declare its intentions for its rural landlines on November 7, 2012.[26] AT&T had previously announced that it was considering a sale of its rural landlines, which are not wired for AT&T's U-verse service; however, it has also stated that it may keep the business after all. AT&T would not be the first Baby Bell to sell off rural landlines. Ameritech sold some of its Wisconsin lines to CenturyTel in 1998; BellSouth sold some of its lines to MebTel in the 2000s; U S 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.

Corporate structure

AT&T office in San Antonio, Texas with new logo and orange highlight from the former Cingular AT&T Inc. has retained the holding companies it has acquired over the years resulting in the following corporate structure:

AT&T Inc., publicly traded holding company o Southwestern Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T Arkansas, AT&T Kansas, AT&T Missouri, AT&T Oklahoma, AT&T Southwest, AT&T Texas o AT&T Teleholdings, Inc. d/b/a AT&T East, AT&T Midwest, AT&T West; formerly Ameritech, acquired in 1999; absorbed Pacific Telesis and SNET Corp. under AT&T ownership Illinois Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T Illinois Indiana Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T Indiana Michigan Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T Michigan The Ohio Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T Ohio Pacific Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T California Nevada Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T Nevada The Southern New England Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T Connecticut (includes former Woodbury Telephone) Wisconsin Bell, Inc. d/b/a AT&T Wisconsin

o o o

o o o

AT&T Corp., acquired 2005 Alascom, Inc. d/b/a AT&T Alaska BellSouth Corporation d/b/a AT&T South, acquired 2006 BellSouth Telecommunications, LLC d/b/a AT&T Alabama, AT&T Florida, AT&T Georgia, AT&T Louisiana, AT&T Kentucky, AT&T Mississippi, AT&T North Carolina, AT&T South Carolina, AT&T Southeast, AT&T Tennessee AT&T Mobility Aio Wireless Cricket Communications

Corporate governance

Stephenson at the 2008 World Economic Forum AT&T's current board of directors:[27]

Randall L. Stephenson Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James H. Blanchard Gilbert F. Amelio Reuben V. Anderson Jaime Chico Pardo James P. Kelly Jon C. Madonna Lynn M. Martin John B. McCoy Joyce M. Roch Matthew K. Rose Laura D'Andrea Tyson

Criticism and controversies