AT&T is a leader in telecommunication services, including cell phones, wireless, U-verse, digital TV, high speed internet, DSL, and home phone. AT&T currently employs over 280,000 people worldwide. AT&T is now ranked #7 on Fortune 500 list, where its main competitor, Verizon, is listed as #13. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, AT&T Inc is the largest U.S. local and long distance phone service provider and second largest wireless service provider, with over 87.0 million wireless customers. AT&T was created in 2005 after SBC Communications acquired AT&T Corp.
The current emergence of AT&T traces its roots back to 1882 and the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. Ameritech, Southwestern Bell, Pacific Telesis, and Bellsouth comprised the bulk of the SBC’s consumer base before the AT&T merger. The 1982 breakup of the previously vertically integrated AT&T led to the divestiture of local service companies, resulting in seven regional holding companies, or “Baby Bells.” The result of AT&T’s breakup was increased competition from the likes of Sprint and MCI. Two of the spun off regional holding companies, Bell Atlantic and Nynex, would later become Verizon, and US West would become Qwest.
AT&T operates across its main business segments: Wireless, Wireline, Advertising Solutions, and other. Its Wireless segment provides wireless voice communications services, including local wireless communications, long-distance, and roaming services with prepaid roaming agreements. This segment also supplies various accessories such as handsets, wirelessly enabled computers, and personal computer data cards. Its Wireline segment, which has previously been AT&T's core business, has invested heavily in AT&T "U-Verse", which offers high-speed internet, phone, and television services in one package. Its Wireline segment also offers voice services, which include local and long-distance, conference calling, caller ID, call waiting, voice mail services and more. The company’s
References: AT&T. (2010) AT&T: Rethink Possible. Retrieved November 12, 2010 from http://www.att.com/ Fortune 500. (2010). Retrieved November 12, 2010, from http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2010/full_list/index.html Karthinkeyan, D. (2010, July 7). Analyst angle: bye-bye unlimited data plans-the drivers, threats and opportunites. Retrieved from http://www.rcrwireless.com/ARTICLE/20100707/opinion/100709981/analyst-angle-bye-bye-unlimited-data-plans-8211-the-drivers Parthasarthy, Raghavan. Fundamentals of strategic management. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007. Rupel, Matt. (2010, February 18) Frustrated Clients Tell AT&T to Raise the Bars. Retrieved November 12, 2010 from http://www.thesantaclara.com/home/ Sullivan, M. (2010, March 24) U.S. Wireless Carriers Take Different Routes Toward Fast 4G Service. About.com. Retrieved November 10, 2010 from http://pcworld.about.com/od/networking1/U-S-Wireless-Carriers-Take-Different-Routes-Toward-Fast-4G-Service.htm The Economist. (2010, June 10). The Future of AT&T. Retrieved November 13, 2010 from http://www.economist.com/ Yahoo! Finance (2010). AT&T Profile. Retrieved November 12, 2010 from http://finance.yahoo.com/