ATLANTA – AT&T announced today that it has won a $12.3 million networking contract from Atlanta-based Southern Company, the premier super-regional energy company in the Southeast and a leading U.S. producer of electricity. The three-year contract extends and expands a long-time relationship between the companies.

Under the contract, AT&T provides Southern Company with a high-speed data solution integrating several hundred company locations, plus Internet and voice services. Southern Company supplies energy to most of Georgia and Alabama, southeastern Mississippi and the Florida panhandle.

A significant portion of the high-speed data network provided by AT&T supports SouthernLINC Wireless, a Southern Company subsidiary that provides wireless communications service in the Southeast U.S. The data network serves as the backhaul for SouthernLINC’s wireless communications towers that provide service over 127,000 square miles.

The data network also links Southern Company’s headquarters and central operations center to power substations throughout its operating area, which allows the operations center to monitor the status of each substation on the network.

“Southern Company and AT&T have worked together in business for many years,” said Becky Blalock, Southern Company senior vice president and chief information officer. “We are proud of our relationship with AT&T and pleased with their product and service.”

Southern Company uses the AT&T BusinessDirect® Web portal for all-electronic dealings, saving time and money. The secure portal gives Southern Companyonline access to tools that provide real-time reports on network performance and direct access to AT&T’s ordering, status, inventory and trouble management systems.

About Southern Company

With more than 4 million customers and nearly 39,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is the premier super-regional energy company in the Southeast and a leading U.S. producer of electricity. Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states, a growing competitive generation company and a competitive retail natural gas business, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices that are 15 percent below the national average. Southern Company has been ranked the nation’s top energy utility in the American Customer Satisfaction Index five years in a row. Southern Company has more than 500,000 shareholders, making its common stock one of the most widely held in the United States. Visit the Southern Company Web site at www.southerncompany.com.