AT&T Corp - Early History, Move To Cable And Internet Markets

AT&T Corp. is the world's leading long-distance telephone service provider and also one of the top telecommunications services providers. As competition among long-distance firms intensified throughout the 1980s and 1990s, AT&T struggled to find new markets in which it could succeed. Efforts to convert cable television lines into integrated Internet, local phone, and entertainment networks were sharply criticized by analysts in 2000. Late that year, CEO Michael Armstrong announced plans to split the telecommunications giant into four separate companies. AT&T Wireless is the third-largest wireless firm in the United States, behind Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless. AT&T Broadband is comprised of AT&T's cable holdings, which sells local phone, Internet, and cable television services via cable telephony lines to roughly 400,000 customers. AT&T Consumer houses the firm's traditional long-distance services and the WorldNet dial-up Internet service. All other AT&T operations are housed in AT&T Business, the largest of the four units.