At T Corp

L.A. Cellular formally becomes part of AT&T Wireless today in a move that allows the latter to immediately begin selling AT&T service plans, including its popular national plan that eliminates roaming and long-distance charges for heavy users. "For the most part, a lot of L.A. Cellular will disappear on Monday," said an official close to AT&T who asked not to be identified.

Bank of America this week said it's reducing the value of the company by more than $10 billion because of recent financial reform that limits the amount the bank can charge to process debit-card transactions. That's because the reform requires the Federal Reserve to set processing fees at a level that's "reasonable and proportional to the cost incurred by the issuer with respect to the transaction. " Jerry Dubrowski, a bank spokesman, said BofA is required by accounting rules to value its business based on projected cash flow.

1900 -- AT&T becomes the parent company of American Bell. Early 1900s -- Seeking a monopoly, AT&T refuses to allow rival phone companies to connect to its network until they sell out to AT&T. 1910 -- AT&T gains effective control of Western Union, its biggest telephone competitor. 1913 -- Under threat of an antitrust lawsuit, AT&T agrees to dispose of Western Union stock and not to buy other independent phone companies without government approval.

Facing a major regulatory issue, AT&T Inc. has unleashed the kind of lobbying blitz that makes it one of the grand corporate players of the great Washington game. And yet, for all the money AT&T and other old-line telecom and cable companies have spent pushing their cause, they are poised to lose a key vote to a bunch of newer tech companies that never had anything to do with Washington until recently. If the Federal Communications Commission votes today in favor of crafting rules to let the government oversee access to the Internet, it could be a sign of a fundamental shift of power under the Obama administration.

AT&T Corp. agreed to market phone and multimedia services on Infoseek Corp.'s Web site in a three-year agreement that also includes forming an Internet service.

AT&T Corp. completed its purchase of MediaOne Group Inc. for about $44 billion, becoming the largest U.S. cable television provider serving more than 40% of pay-TV customers. The acquisition was completed for about $23 billion in cash and 606 million shares worth $20.3 billion, based on AT&T's closing share price Wednesday, the company said. That's far lower than the $58-billion value when the deal was announced in April 1999.

AT&T Corp. shareholders approved the company's $16-billion acquisition by SBC Communications Inc., which would create one of the world's largest phone companies. The merger has won regulatory approval in 26 states and still needs OKs from 10 additional states and the federal government. If it is approved, closing is expected late this year or early next year.

AT&T Corp. agreed to pay $500,000 to end a federal investigation into claims the company billed customers who didn't order service. The Federal Communications Commission was investigating whether Bedminster, N.J.-based AT&T erroneously charged $3.95 a month to 1.27 million consumers this year, the agency said in legal papers. An AT&T spokesman had no immediate comment. AT&T has said the charges were caused by a billing error and it gave refunds to customers.

Millions of Californians will start paying several dollars a month more for land-line phone service after AT&T's second price increase for custom-calling features since the state lifted rate caps last year. The nation's biggest phone carrier this week boosted the cost of caller ID, call waiting and a host of other features for a la carte phone service.

AT&T to Set Up Subsidiary: The wholly owned subsidiary will manufacture high-technology telecommunications equipment and computer hardware and software products, the official New China News Agency said. AT&T China will coordinate and manage the AT&T Corp. business activities there.

The Federal Communications Commission is looking into complaints by AT&T Inc. that the Google Voice phone service blocks some calls within the United States to avoid a high connection fee. The FCC sent an inquiry to Google Inc. on Friday seeking information about the software's functionality, the number of users and the identity of its partners. Google Voice allows users to consolidate their home, office and cellphone numbers by routing the calls through a central Google number.

Capping a day of dueling announcements from rival cellphone service providers, AT&T said Tuesday that it would allow users of Apple Inc.'s popular iPhone to make Internet telephone calls over its wireless network. Hours earlier, Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest mobile carrier, said it was teaming up with Internet search giant Google Inc. to release a family of cellular devices powered by Google's Android software, whose capacity to run a vast array of "apps" is widely thought to represent a threat to the iPhone.

AT&T Inc. is urging the Federal Communications Commission to investigate Google Inc.'s Google Voice service on grounds it may be violating federal telecommunications laws. The phone giant based its request on news reports that said Google Voice restricts users from placing calls to certain areas with carriers that charge high access fees. Under federal law, other telephone service providers don't have that option. "By blocking these calls, Google is able to reduce its access expenses," AT&T said in a letter it sent Friday to the FCC. The complaint was the latest in a fight that's been intensifying between the companies.

"American Idol" ended its eighth season last week. So what will fans do with all this newfound free time? Why, delve into another "Idol" voting controversy, of course. Published reports have raised questions on whether AT&T, a program sponsor, may have violated "Idol" voting rules at two pre-finale parties thrown for Kris Allen, the Arkansas crooner crowned winner last Wednesday.

Earnings at AT&T Inc. fell 24% in the fourth quarter, narrowly missing analyst estimates, as sales of heavily subsidized iPhones exceeded expectations. The country's largest telecommunications provider said it earned $2.40 billion, or 41 cents a share, in the last three months of 2008. That was down from $3.14 billion, or 51 cents, a year earlier. Excluding items like merger and severance costs, AT&T earned 64 cents a share, missing the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters by a penny.

AT&T Inc. didn't conspire to fix the rate for long-distance surcharges paid by customers, a Kansas jury said Wednesday, rejecting a $400-million claim against the largest U.S. telephone company. The federal jury in Kansas City, Kan., also ordered AT&T to pay $16.9 million to California residential customers who accused the company of breach of contract in the same trial.

AT&T Corp. got clearance from the Justice Department to buy IBM Corp.'s global communications network for $5 billion, with no conditions attached. AT&T says it could receive $2.5 billion in additional revenue in the first full year of operating the network.

AT&T Inc. customers who obsessively play World of Warcraft while downloading dozens of movies: Your days of online impunity may be numbered. AT&T has joined the ranks of telecommunications companies that are exploring the idea of limiting the amount of bandwidth that subscribers can use each month. The company began this month to apply such limits, testing the policy first in Reno. Subscribers to AT&T's slowest Internet service there will be limited to downloading 20 gigabytes of data per month.

AT&T Inc.'s earnings rose 5.5% in the third quarter but missed analyst expectations because of strong sales of Apple Inc.'s iPhones, which the carrier subsidizes. The company said it earned $3.23 billion, or 55 cents a share, in the July-September period, up from $3.06 billion, or 50 cents, a year earlier. Excluding $1.1 billion in merger-related costs, the Dallas-based company earned 67 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting 71 cents. AT&T's profit took a hit of $900 million, or 10 cents a share, in subsidies for the 2.4 million iPhones it sold, and 2 cents a share in hurricane damage.