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AT&T – The subsidiary of Bell Telephone company that rise as an individual firm in a few years

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The telecommunication industry has experienced lots of changes in the near years. As well as it will further see tremendous changes in the upcoming year. In such a scenario, it will no doubt offers many opportunities for the firms working in this sector. AT&T is one of the largest firms in the telecommunication sector which inherently grabbing such opportunities since its emergence. Established in 1885, the firm has gained significant importance in the global market.

Apart from being a leading telecommunication firm, it is also providing services in multiple sectors. Such as television network service, film production, and premium pay services through WarnerMedia. Also, it is one of the well-known advertising services providers through its very own segment called Xandr. Moreover, the firm is expertise in local exchange and long-distance services.

Backstory of AT&T Establishment

The roots of AT&T’s foundation is in the establishment of Bell Telephone Company. In the mid of 19th century, Gardiner Greene Hubbard, A. Graham Bell, and Thomas Sanders set up Bell Telephone company. That time, in 1885, they acquired AT&T and made it one of the most important segments of the firm. AT&T stands for American Telephone and Telegraph Company, which remained the main firm even after it merged into Bell Telephone company. After a few years, the firm went to several reformations. In fact, U.S regulators limit its business to broke the monopoly of AT&T in the market.  It was the time when AT&T had to turned its regional subsidiaries into individual firms, known as Baby Bells.

The firm also renamed its name, which later on again replaced by original name i.e., AT&T. Today, it maps a large part of the Latin American telecommunication market.

Exploring the business

Even though the firm has experienced several breakups and reformations in history, it stood strong and compete with rivals like MCI and Sprint. Within 10 years, the firm has ranked 15th in the Fortune 500 list. The firm has acquired several businesses in the following years. It purchased Lusacell in 2014, and NII Holdings in the same year. Both were the top firms in the Mexican cellular and wireless business.

Recently, AT&T launched a mobile 5G network in 2018. Currently, available in 12 cities around America. After Verizon, AT&T became the second telecommunication provider to launch 5G. The success journey of AT&T has not been fulfilled yet. As per the vision and mission of the firm, it aims to become the most valuable and admirable firm on the planet. Presently, the firm is working in four segments called AT&T, Latin America, WarnerMedia, and Xandr.

Personalities involved in the success of AT&T

Gardiner Greene Hubbard-Founder

Born on 25 August 1822, Gardiner was a reputed financier, community leader, and lawyer in America. Apart from that, he was one of the founding members of Bell Telephony company, later on, served as the first president of the firm. As well, he was a founding member of the National Geographic Society and Journal Science. Despite being a lawyer by profession but Gardiner worked in almost all sectors.

Coming to his education, he studied at Phillips Academy. In 1841, he finished graduating from Dartmouth. Thereafter he joined Harvard to study law.

John T. Stankey-CEO

AT&T CEO
Image Source: variety.com

He is a well-known businessman in the USA and former CEO at WarnerMedia. Presently, serving as the CEO of leading telecommunication firm, AT&T. Before that, Jhon served in various positions in a similar firm. Jhon is graduated in finance and started his career at Pacific Bell. Thereafter, he got the chance to lead many positions. In fact, he shared a great contribution to the acquisition of DirecTV and Warner. These are some of the important acquisitions made by AT&T. Stankey currently guiding the policies of AT&T. Recently, the firm launched a 5G service, which he aims to explore further. As well, the firm has worked in streaming video services under Stankey’s policies.

Bottom Line

AT&T has a big name in the telecommunication industry, also captures a large part of the local and global market. The firm has grabbed the opportunities provided by the evolving telecommunication sector and strengthen its roots planted in 1885. Presently, it has huge importance in the industry and has millions of clients and customers. Through its top four segments i.e., AT&T, Latin America, WarnerMedia, and Xandr; the firm is playing a large role in the American telecommunication market.

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IGATE: One of The Fastest Growing It Companies Worldwide

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Employment has developed immensely due to IT companies. Most of the engineers show interest in Computer Science and IT companies like IGATE because of the vast job opportunities. Since technology is not slowing down anymore, IT has great potential.

The IT industry is not reaching a saturation point shortly. Many people predict there might be a sudden pause in the growth but the continuous need for better services is not going to stop any sooner. Many IT companies are emerging out around the world. They are coming up with better solutions every day. Data transfer, cloud computing, consultancy services, etc are major demands in today’s world.

IGATE

IGATE is one of the oldest IT service companies. Co-founded by Ashok Trivedi and Sunil Wadhwani, the company was established in 1996 in New Jersey, U.S. Capgemini, a French-IT company acquired IGATE in 2015.

Ashok Trivedi

Born into a family in Lucknow, Ashok Trivedi completed his Bachelor’s and Masters from the University of Delhi. He went to the United States to complete his MBA from Ohio University. He also attended a program at Harvard Business School.

Ashok stepped into the professional world with Unisys Corp in 1976. In 1988, Ashok co-founded Mastech (parent company of IGATE) with Sunil Wadhwani. He received the Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young. Ashok is also the recipient of the Banyan Tree Award and Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ashok Trivedi is always known as an angel investor. He is a part of the Indian Angel Network and Managing Partner at SWAT Capital.

Ashok has founded Trivedi Family Foundation in 2015 and co-founded Ashoka University.

Sunil Wadhwani

Sunil Wadhwani has been born and brought up in Mumbai. He is an engineer who received his B. Tech degree from IIT Madras. Graduated in 1974 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering he went to Carnegie Mellon University to study industrial administration.

Sunil founded UroTec Systems in 1981 and became the President and CEO of the company. His next business was Mastech with Ashok Trivedi.

Sunil is also a well-known philanthropist. In 2014, he has founded the WISH Foundation to provide healthcare facilities in low-income areas of India. Sunil Wadhwani along with his brother Romesh Wadhwani founded Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence in 2018. The foundation has collaborated with some of the famous universities in the world.

IGATE Founders
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History of IGATE

Ashok and Sunil established Mastech Systems Corporations in 1988. Initially, IGATE was a subsidiary of the Mastech (now Mastech Digital). Ten years after its establishment, the company exclusively provided IT services to companies across the map.

The company started growing very fast in early 2000. It expanded to thirty-four different countries which included North America, Europe, and Asia. India became IGATE’s largest market and the revenue summed up to $1.2 billion.

A Big Acquisition

How often it happens that a company acquires a business three times larger its size. In 2011, IGATE acquired Patni Computer Systems for $1.2 billion. The company bought a 63% stake in Patni. It was quite impressible for a company way smaller than Patni.

Under the supervision of these great co-founders, IGATE grew big from nothing and created big news.

Capgemini

Capgemini is a French-IT conglomerate that provides consultancy, outgoing and professional services. Founded in 1967, the company today has over 2, 00,000 employees. It provides services in more than 40 countries. 50% of employees of the company are Indian.

Capgemini acquired IGATE on 1st July 2015. Paul Hermelin, CEO of Capgemini said that he acquired the company to set new operations in the market of North America. IGATE had 31,000 employees during the acquisition.

Other than IGATE, Capgemini’s other subsidiaries are Sogeti, LiquidHub, and Altran.

IGATE Today

In 2014, IGATE has won the VCCircle Award for best PE/VC backed IT Company of the Year 2013. It acquired the 51st position in Fortune’s Top 100 Fastest-Growing Companies.

IGATE is a global service provider. The main services of the company are investment strategies, business process outsourcing, and services related to it. IGATE is currently working in telecommunication to improve voice infrastructure and voice quality.

IGATE focuses on the quality of service. They follow the principle of providing better services to the customers over new products as one bad experience can cause a huge loss of business.

skype

Skype : A Communication App that Won the World

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In the last few decades, the world has changed a lot. What seemed to be impossible a few years ago, is being executed with zero effort today. With the boom in entrepreneurship and startups getting the hang of the wave, human life is at its technological best. Our generation has witnessed a large number of success stories, but not every one of it has managed to stay with us for so long. The inventions that change the world are the ones that feed the depriving hearts of society. The success story of Skype is one such idea that changed the very nature of web business by revolutionizing the chat connectivity of the virtual world.

Founded in the year 2003 by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, Skype turned out to be the biggest surprise that changed the face of online communication for the years to come. One can say that Skype lessened the distance between people, or in other words, started bringing people together. It gained almost 6000 subscribers within just one week of its launch, and this is when the duo realized that they are in for something huge. This realization proved to be true as we look at the trail they have left behind.

Janus and Niklas developed the application with the help of a group of highly skilled individuals, namely Ahti Heinia, Priit Kasesalu, and Jaan Tallinn. The most attractive aspect of Skype is that it is free. During a time when the telecom industry charged a fortune for international calls, Skype provided free video calls through the usage of P2P connectivity. It was an actual boon to the people who were separated from their loved ones through distance. It also mitigated the location issues for major business meetings and other official programs.

skype founders
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Like every huge success story, Skype, too, has a humble beginning. Zennstrom was collecting the telephone bills of his friend in Europe when he realized how huge the telecom companies charge for long-distance phone calls. This is what led to the invention of Skype, as simple as that. They wanted to avert the escalating telephone bills and wanted to make communications across the globe more cheap and efficient.

Within just two years of its inception, Skype already had 20 million active users and was growing at an exponential rate of 5 new users per second. This growth soon attracted a lot of attention from huge names such as eBay and Microsoft. eBay later in 2005, acquired Skype for a whopping sum of 3.5 billion USD. The most successful project of the internet industry, Skype, again get attracted the interest of other tech giants. And, this time, Microsoft acquired Skype for 8.5 billion USD.

The innovation by a team of young minds changed the way people talk across the globe. It was an extravagant success, as there is no greater deed than filling the deficiency of society.

Back in 2003, it was the need for a more efficient and low-cost communication system. The founders say that they were very naïve and highly optimistic in their journey throughout Skype. But it was this same spirit that led them to launch the service. They did not dive into the what-ifs and other nitty-gritty of all the things that could go wrong. The other main highlight of the concept was that there was nothing much complicated about functioning. There were no complicated procedures or troubling interface. Everything was simple and clear. This also was a contributing factor to the immense success of the idea.

Every big change starts from a small spark. This spark comes to every one of us. The ones who can latch on to the spark and ignite a fire become successful. These build unicorn companies, multi-million dollar empires and some even end up becoming legends. Skype provides the biggest example of how small ideas can revolutionize the world. It started a chain of changes that still ripples across the surface of the virtual world and how people communicate with each other.

Reliance Plans to Launch Jio GigaFiber Next Few Weeks

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Reliance Jio, the biggest telecom company in India, had released the beta of its Jio GigaFiber last year, and since then, there have been many talks about the same. The Jio GigaFiber claims it will replace the old fashioned cables with all fibre cables, enhancing the speed for the broadband and TV connections. Reportedly, the company is planning to end the beta and officially launch the GigaFibre in the coming weeks.

Jio GigaFiber
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Since the company had made the testing open for the public, too, many of the common people were able to enjoy the unlimited internet after paying a sum of Rs. 4500. This way, there have been numerous leaks on the details about the upcoming Jio GigaFiber.

The new Jio GigaFiber is faster and offers three different services altogether, i.e., landline, broadband, and a TV connection. With the new network connection, Reliance intends to provide its users with a connected ecosystem for their homes through a single package, and that too, at a cheaper price.

Though there are various network providers that use optical fibre for the connection, they mix these connections with the conventional cables. With Jio GigaFiber, the whole network will rely on fibre optics, leading to up to 100Mbps network speed with no or negligible loss in the connection. The people who were using the beta of the service have confirmed a similar speed on the network. The TV connection and the landline will also rely on the internet, such that JIO TV will stream the TV channels in HD, and people will be able to make free calls through the landline. Even if we believe the rumours, the Jio TV will stream 600 TV channels for Rs. 600.

Also, unlike the other network providers, GigaFiber includes the dual-band Wi-Fi routers. Currently, the company is offering the GigaFiber beta connection for a security deposit of Rs 4500. The other plan includes a single-band router rendering speed of 50Mbps, which will cost the users a sum of Rs 2500.

GigaFiber can be a big game changer for Reliance as it may empower other home devices as well, and this way, people will not have the need for different service providers for separate home internet services.

Amazon Wants to Enter the Telecom Industry; Plans to Buy Boost from Sprint

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Amazon is the biggest tech company, and it has spread its arms in almost everything. And now, the company is planning to expand into the telecom industry, too. According to a report by Reuters, Amazon is planning to acquire the prepaid cellphone wireless service Boost Mobile from its parent company Sprint.

The deal with Sprint not only will make Amazon fourth largest telecom services in the US but also may provide it with the access to the T-Mobile’s wireless network for a long period of time, as both Sprint and T-Mobile are under the process of a merger. The deal between T-mobile and Sprint will be a $26 billion merger if Sprint will be able to convince antitrust regulators for the merger.

But according to a recent report from Bloomberg, the regularity authority does not want that the number of wireless carriers be less than four, and the merger is actually, leading to that. So the two companies are working towards bringing an entirely new carrier, such that they might be giving away some of their spectrum to the new company and finalise the merger.

Boost is a subsidiary of Sprint, but is out of the merger contract, as Sprint has already decided to sell the company. So there are no chances that after the deal, T-Mobile can own it. In fact, the company that will own Boost will have access to the Sprint’s wireless network, but not T-Mobile’s. But according to the report from Reuters, acquiring Boost will provide Amazon with access to both the company’s combined network for a span of six years.

Since the news has been making rounds, there is a questing hitting everyone’s mind, “Why Amazon would want to enter the telecom business?” It is quite simple. The company has been expanding into almost every field. It is the biggest eCommerce platform and has got its cloud computing arm. The company has got its retail stores, streaming service, and now it is also off to start its own delivery service. So why not expand into telecom?

The Journey of the World’s Largest Telecom Company

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Telecommunication industry is considered the most progressive industry in the world. In the past more than a hundred years, from its origin to until now, it has seen a radical change. The time changed, but the company that belonged to the inventor of the telephone, Graham Bell, is still standing strong as the leading multinational conglomerate holding company. AT&T known as the largest telecommunication company has its own part in the history of the development of the telecom industry.

Birth of AT&T

After the discovery of the telephone, Graham Bell founded a company named the Bell Telephone Company, in 1880. By 1885, the company evolved as the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, the AT&T Co. AT&T, later, acquired the Bell Telephone Company, in December 1899. It started getting a hold on the customers in Canada and the United States, resulting in AT&T’s monopoly in the telecommunication industry. This growing monopoly of AT&T provoked the US government to drag the company to the court for an antitrust challenge. Later, it was settled outside the court on the basis of the Kingsbury Commitment, resulting in the government-authorised monopoly with the name of Bells System. The merger continued for the entire 20th century. Also, the company became the largest telephone company in the world.

After continuing for over 80 years, in 1981, the government-authorised monopoly was dissolved by the US regulations and resulted in the origin of smaller companies, including the Southwestern Bell. All the smaller companies started due to the break-up of the monopoly were known as Regional Bell Operating Companies or Baby Bells. The breaking-up of the monopoly also resulted in a rise in competition for AT&T as other independent telecommunication companies, like MCI and Sprint also came into the business.

The new Southwestern Bell company was founded by Robert G. Pope, who led the company with some really successful acquisitions. The company not only worked in the telecommunication but also acquired some of the cable companies and entered into the business of cable connections. In 1990, the company was rebranded as SBC Communications. The success of the company led it to the list of top 500 Fortune companies, in 1999.

In 2005, the SBC Communications was rebranded again, as AT&T Co., after it acquired its previous parent company, AT&T, for $16 billion. It also retained the iconic logo and stock-trading symbol of older AT&T.

Current Status & Achievements

The AT&T’s acquisition was followed by the other important ones as well, including the Mexican carrier Iusacell (2014), NII Holdings (2014), DirecTV (2015), Time Warner (2016), etc. The DirecTV deal was worth $48.5 billion and AT&T spent $108.7 billion for the acquisition of Time Warner. By 2017, AT&T became the world’s largest telecommunications company and second largest provider of the mobile telephone. AT&T is also the largest provider of fixed telephone services in the United States.