美国电话电报公司

美国电话电报公司(AT&T Corp.)

旧称American Telephone and Telegraph Co.

美国远距通信公司。原为贝尔电话公司（Bell Telephone Co., 1877年由贝尔〔Alexander Graham Bell〕创建）的附属机构，建立了长途电话线路，後来成为贝尔系统的母公司。20世纪初该公司实际垄断了美国远距通信工业，到了1970年已是全球最大的公司。它发展了跨洋无线电电话联系和电话缆线系统，并开创了通讯卫星系统。联邦政府控告它违反反托拉斯法，缠讼多年，最後在1984年同意放手让二十二家地区性「营业公司」独立出来，合组为七个「小贝尔公司」（Nynex、Bell Atlantic、Ameritech、Bellsouth、Southwestern Bell Corp、US West及Pacific Telesis Group）。1996年再度自行分为三家独立公司：美国电话电报公司、朗讯科技公司（Lucent Technologies Inc.，由以前的西方电气公司〔Western Electric〕和贝尔实验室〔Bell Laboratories〕组成）和国民收款机公司（NCR Corp）。

English version：

AT&T Corp.

U.S. telecommunications corporation. It was established as a subsidiary of Bell Telephone Co. (founded by Alexander Graham Bell in 1877) to build long-distance telephone lines, and later became the parent company of the Bell system. In the early 20th century it gained a virtual monopoly over the U.S. telecommunications industry, and by 1970 it was the world's largest corporation. It developed transoceanic radiotelephone links and telephone cable systems and created the Telstar satellite communications system. Years of federal antitrust litigation resulted in AT&T's 1984 divestment of its 22 regional telephone companies, which were combined to form seven “Baby Bells”: Nynex, Bell Atlantic, Ameritech (or American Information Technologies, Inc.), BellSouth, Southwestern Bell Corp., US West, and Pacific Telesis Group. In 1996 AT&T divided its operations into three separate companies: AT&T Corp., Lucent Technologies Inc. (composed of the former operations of Western Electric and Bell Laboratories), and the NCR Corp.