AT&T is a US-based telecoms company, and the second largest provider of mobile services and the largest provider of fixed telephone services in the US.
AT&T operates as a carrier of both fixed and mobile networks in the US but also offers telecoms services elsewhere. It is the largest telecoms operator in the world by revenue.
AT&T also provides pay-TV services through DirecTV. AT&T also uses its network to offer peripheral services, including disaster recovery.
AT&T can chart its origins back to Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone. The inventor’s company, Bell Telephone Company, was the parent company of subsidiary American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), established in 1885.
Where is AT&T based and who are its rivals? Find out on the next page.
Led by Randall L. Stephenson, AT&T competes with operators such as T-Mobile and Verizon in the US.
The company is headquartered in Dallas and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Recently AT&T officially confirmed that it will buy media group Time Warner for the hefty sum of $85.4bn (£70bn). This will support its content offering.
AT&T made $13.3 billion in profit in 2015.
