The current company, which is based in San Antonio, Texas, was formed in 2005 by SBC Communications' purchase of its former parent company, AT&T Corp. As a part of the merger, SBC shed its name and took on the iconic AT&T moniker (originally American Telephone and Telegraph) and the T stock-trading symbol (for "Telephone").

Expansion

Announced Acquisition of BellSouth

On Sunday March 5, 2006 [1], AT&T announced it would be purchasing BellSouth for $67 billion (or 1.325 shares of AT&T for each share of BellSouth). The new combined company would retain the name AT&T.  When completed, this deal will consolidate ownership of Cingular Wireless, currently a joint venture between BellSouth and AT&T. Subsequent to completion of the merger, wireless services would be offered under the AT&T name. Usage of the Bell logo after the merger is highly doubtful.

Privacy controversy

In 2006, the Electronic Frontier Foundation lodged a class action lawsuit (Hepting vs. AT&T) which alleged that AT&T had allowed agents of the National Security Agency to monitor phone and internet communications of AT&T customers without warrants. If true, this would violate American law. In April 2006 a retired former AT&T technician, Mark Klein, lodged an affadavit supporting this allegation . The Department of Justice has stated they will intervene in this lawsuit by means of State Secrets Privilege .

In May 2006, USA Today reported that all international and domestic calling records had been handed over to the National Security Agency by AT&T, Verizon, SBC, and BellSouth for the purpose of creating a massive calling database. The portions of the new AT&T that had been part of SBC Communications before November 18, 2005 were not mentioned.

On June 21, 2006, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that AT&T had rewritten rules on their privacy policy. The policy, to take effect June 23, 2006, says that "AT&T -- not customers -- owns customers' confidential info and can use it "to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process.