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Deal Creates Biggest Telecom Firm in US
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=B48DF1:2AB91D3

Texas-based SBC will buy New Jersey-based AT&T for $16 billion SBC
Communications, the second-largest telephone company in the United
States, says it will buy long-distance carrier AT&T in a deal that
would create the nation's biggest telecommunications firm.

Under terms of the deal, Texas-based SBC will buy New Jersey-based
AT&T for $16 billion. The decision announced Monday merges SBC's
regional phone services with AT&T's long-distance and high-speed
internet services.

The deal brings both companies full circle back to their shared roots.
AT&T traces its history to the invention of the telephone by
Alexander Graham Bell in 1875. It operated as the sole telephone
company in the United States for many decades, earning the nickname
"Ma Bell." However, after lengthy legal proceedings, it was broken
apart in 1984 into seven regional companies dubbed "Baby Bells"
including SBC.

U.S. government regulators must approve the deal before it is
finalized.

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.


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