What is AT&T called now?
AT&T has changed its name many times throughout the years; now, it is still AT&T even though legally it is AT&T Internet Inc. Here is a synopsis somewhat broadly.
Its beginnings are in the 1877 foundation of the Bell Telephone Company by Alexander Graham Bell Over the next several decades, Bell Telephone Company renamed itself American Telephone & Telegraph Company, or AT&T for short. As such, by 1939 AT&T essentially controls phone services throughout the country.
One major antitrust action focused on the subsequently sold-off 1980s AT&T powerhouse. They preserved their long-distance services under the AT&T name while selling their local phone businesses. Popularly known as "Baby Bells," the local phone companies were divided and separated into seven different businesses known as Regional Bell Operating Corporations or RBOCs.
AT&T and the Baby Bells started gathering and acquiring additional companies in the coming decades. Starting in the 1990s and 2000s, a string of mergers and acquisitions began; in 2005 SBC Communications bought the original AT&T Corporation. The united company adopted the name AT&T.
Then in 2006, the AT&T name returned when SBC Communications, a "Baby Bells" member, bought AT&T Corp. In this case, SBC opted for the more well-known AT&T name instead of its own.
To consumers and businesses, AT&T Inc. now provides phone and digital TV, Internet, Wi-Fi, networking tools, and products. It runs in three parts.
- AT&T Communications: Offers wireless services, broadband, video, and other services to American consumers and nearly three million businesses. This division earns most of the total revenue of AT&T company The wireless division:
- WarnerMedia: HBO, the Turner cable TV networks, the Warner Bros. studio, and DirectTV which is under the entertainment arm of AT&T.
- AT&T Latin America: Sells wireless services and equipment to customers in Mexico, and video entertainment service to Latin American customers.
Thus, the modern AT&T Inc. consists of fragments of the 1877 AT&T Company with the same name. It still retains the AT&T name, which is among the most recognizable brand names in the communication and media industry. The change to AT&T Inc. in 2005 was mostly for simplification of the name after acquiring the former parent company AT&T Corporation. But for consumers and the general public, it is still easily recognizable as AT&T.
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