AT & T History

In the United States, most children learn early on that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. What they don’t learn is that the telecommunications company that was spurred from that invention still exists today in the form of telecom giant AT&T. Bell Telephone opened in 1878, and within three years, the company was spread throughout much of the United States and owned most of their licensees, becoming known as the Bell System (corp.att.com). The company created a subsidiary, the American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) company in order to create long distance calls. AT&T successfully reached long distance calls from New York to San Francisco by 1915, at which point the subsidiary was then able to purchase and become the parent company

By 1996, the company had started providing local telephone service again, as well as recognized the desire for the transfer of data and video on their network and so developed their own internet service (corp.att.com). By mid-2000, AT&T had three rapidly evolving networks- data, broadband, and wireless, and four separate businesses-cable, wireless, business, and consumer (corp.att.com). The company rapidly developed from solely focusing on long-distance telephone service to the company that most recognize it as today: a leading telecommunications service-providing company. Today, the company is increasing its reign in the video industry. In 2015, they acquired DirecTV, and pending a ruling by the DOJ, they will also merge with Time Warner, Inc. This most recent merger is a deal that has total equity value of $85.4 billion and a total transaction value of $108.7 billion” (Newsroom, 2016). The company finds substantial long-term profitability for stakeholders and customers in the proposition of this

For their 2020 midpoint goal, AT&T provided a detailed outline of their intentions to reach their goals. They presented broader and general goals of encouraging their customers to reduce their carbon emissions “by expanding access to technology, further integrating sustainability solutions into products, and measuring the impacts” (Roadmap, 2015). Following this generality, they have set targets specifically defining the plans that they have detailing their goals. For instance, to reduce emissions, they plan to reduce their electricity uses, as well as have a goal of 15,000 alternative-fuel vehicles on the road by the end of 2018. To help care for their customers, they have also started an initiative to provide high speed internet for low income families. For 2025, the company is going to continue to focus on “network efficiency” and “customer solutions”