AT&T, which recently completed a merger with SBC Communications, announced Monday a $67 billion deal to purchase BellSouth, in an all-stock transaction.

The merger between Verizon Communications Inc. and MCI, Inc. closed Friday, creating a new company with approximately $90 billion in annual revenues and 250,000 employees in some 150 countries.

The state of Washington approved the Verizon-MCI merger last week, clearing the final regulatory hurdle for the companies.

AT&T announced this week that 230 operators in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin would lose their jobs in 2006, and over 100 operators in Illinois will also be laid off.

The California Public Utilities Commission on Friday approved the mergers of SBC with AT&T and Verizon with MCI, with few conditions placed on the mergers.

The Federal Communications Commission on Monday approved the mergers of Verizon with MCI and SBC with AT&T, with only minimal conditions applied to the mergers.

As announced here nearly two months ago, SBC has now come clean and said they will use the AT&T name once the merger between the two companies is approved.

The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday approved the mergers of Verizon with MCI and SBC with AT&T without significant conditions such as the divestiture of assets that critics had asked for.

Verizon has moved into Chicago and begun competing with SBC for medium-to-large business customers there, marking the first time one of the former Baby Bells has competed directly with another in any market.

Sources told the Washington Post Friday that Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin would recommend approving the mergers of SBC with AT&T, and Verizon with MCI, without imposing conditions on the mergers.