Southwestern Bell was one of the original Regional Bell operating companies, or "Baby Bells," formed after U.S. antitrust action against AT&T in 1983. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 allowed Southwestern Bell to become a national telephone provider, and it subsequently purchased Pacific Bell, Ameritech, and Southern New England Telecommunications. AT&T had adopted the name Southwestern Bell for its local operations in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas in April 1920.
In 1998, Southwestern Bell changed its name to SBC Communications.
SBC currently provides local telephone service in 13 states (Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Wisconsin), long distance service to 10 million customers, and along with fellow Baby Bell BellSouth owns cellular phone provider Cingular. It is also a large American Internet Service Provider. It is traded on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol of "SBC."