AT&T Inc. is a major telecommunications company in the United States and one of the largest in the world. The company is a leading provider of local, long-distance, and cellular phone services. It is also a leading provider of high-speed DSL (digital subscriber line) internet service. DSL is a technology that increases the data-carrying capacity of copper phone lines. In addition, AT&T provides Web hosting and other communication services to businesses, government, and residential customers.
The company’s roots can be traced to Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone in 1876. By 1877, Bell; his father-in-law, Gardiner Hubbard; and the American businessman Thomas Sanders established the Bell Telephone Company, later known as the American Bell Telephone Company. In 1882, American Bell acquired a controlling interest in the Western Electric Company, which manufactured telephone receivers and equipment. Collectively, the enterprise became known as the Bell System.
The American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) incorporated in 1885 to build and operate a long-distance wired telephone network. As the company grew, it established four divisions. One division, Western Electric, supported telephone manufacturing. Another division, AT&T Long Lines, handled long-distance services. Bell Labs was responsible for innovation. A fourth division known as Bell Companies—split into 22 separate companies—handled business operations.
In 1913, the U.S. government granted monopoly status to AT&T for national telephone service. In addition to domestic and international telephony, AT&T was instrumental in developing technologies that would eventually be used for television transmission and satellite communications.
Starting in the mid-1960’s, other telephone manufacturers and service providers filed challenges to AT&T’s monopoly status. In 1974, the U.S. government supported the filers’ claim and charged AT&T with anticompetitive practices. Settlement of the lawsuit resulted in AT&T’s divestiture (breakup of company holdings) in 1982. The Bell Companies separated from AT&T in 1984. They were grouped into seven regional firms. Each firm provided local service in a particular U.S. region. The firms were allowed to compete in different areas of the telecommunications business. One of these firms was Southwestern Bell Corporation, which changed its name to SBC Communications Inc. in 1995.
In 1996, AT&T divided its operations among three separate companies. Its communication services continued to operate under the AT&T name. NCR Corporation, a computer manufacturer that AT&T had absorbed in 1991, separated from the company. AT&T also created a third company, Lucent Technologies Inc., to run its communications equipment business.
Shortly after the division, SBC merged with two of the other regional firms that had been formed in 1984. SBC acquired Pacific Telesis Group in 1997 and Ameritech Corporation in 1999. SBC also acquired the Southern New England Telecommunications Corporation, an independent company, in 1998. In 2000, BellSouth Corporation—another regional firm that had been formed in 1984—entered a joint partnership with SBC to create Cingular Wireless, a provider of cellular phone service and other wireless services.
In the 2000’s, AT&T reorganized once again to streamline its wireless telephone and broadband delivery services. By 2002, Comcast Corporation acquired AT&T Broadband. In 2004, Cingular Wireless acquired AT&T Wireless. AT&T moved its headquarters to Dallas, Texas, in 2008. In 2015, AT&T acquired the satellite television provider DIRECTV for $48.5 billion. In 2018, AT&T acquired Time Warner, one of the world’s largest media and communications companies, and renamed it WarnerMedia. In 2022, AT&T separated from WarnerMedia, which joined with the entertainment company Discovery, Inc., to form Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.
