AT&T

AT&T Inc. is one of the nation’s largest telecommunications companies. It provides landline, wireless, and directory services in the United States and internationally. Until being broken up by anti-trust rulings in 1984, AT&T dominated the telecommunications industry. Over the past few years, AT&T has slowly re-established its position as the dominant force in the telecommunications industry. At the beginning of 2007, AT&T closed its acquisition of BellSouth, which followed closely on the heels of a merger with SBC Communications, creating a massive telecommunications concern with interests across the country. At the core of AT&T’s businesses is its wire line unit, which provides landline local and long-distance services to customers in the western, southwestern, and southeastern parts of the US. In addition, AT&T owns Cingular Wireless, the nation’s largest wireless provider, and a number of directory businesses.

Despite its size and history, however, AT&T faces significant competition from new technologies. Over the past decade or so, AT&T's core wireline business has been fighting to retain its market share against new entrants including wireless and other alternatives (such as VoIP). Recently, AT&T has increased its investments in emerging technologies to meet new challenges and take advantage of new opportunities in the telecommunications industry. At the forefront of these efforts is Project Lightspeed, AT&T’s initiative to upgrade its network by installing fiber lines to provide enhanced high-speed internet, video, and data offerings.

As the industry shifts away from traditional landlines, these projects, as well as Cingular, are getting more attention and are becoming more important to AT&T’s efforts to remain a leader in the telecommunications sector. With few meaningful international holdings or opportunities, AT&T must grow by developing these new technologies to shore up its customer base.

More from wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is the largest provider of both local and long distance telephone services, wireless service, and DSL Internet access in the United States. AT&T is based in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Formerly SBC Communications, Inc., the company shed its name and took on the iconic AT&T moniker and the T stock-trading symbol (for "telephone") after its acquisition of American Telephone & Telegraph Company (later known as AT&T Corporation).

Since the break-up of AT&T Corp. in 1984, most of the companies spun off from it (the "Baby Bells") have merged into three major US telecommunications groups: Verizon, Qwest, and AT&T Inc. Most of these companies are made up primarily of former components of AT&T Corp. For the new AT&T, these include many Bell Operating Companies and the long distance division.

AT&T Corporation acquisition

On January 31, 2005, SBC announced that it would purchase AT&T Corp. 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.^[4] SBC changed its corporate name to AT&T Inc., and it adopted an updated logo.