It's a realization that the world is changing and it's changing faster and faster. We saw that the sooner we did this, the better off we'd be.

AT&T will not block access to the public Internet or degrade service, period.

This merger is a logical next step that creates substantial value for customers and stockholders of both AT&T and BellSouth. It will benefit customers through new services and expanded service capabilities.

There's been a lot of talk about this in order to scare people into thinking that access to the Internet is somehow at risk, or that the Internet as we know it is a thing of the past. AT&T will not block anyone's access to the public Internet, nor will we degrade anyone's quality of service.

We literally have hundreds of competitors coming in every day; it's nothing like the old days. If we're going to have the strength to compete, we better get our companies together.

This merger is a logical next step.