AT&T Accused of Exploiting Regional Affiliates to Build Network

AT&T Inc. was hit with more than a dozen lawsuits Monday by investors in regional affiliates who claim the telecommunications giant built its nationwide mobile network by exploiting its control over the small partnerships.

The 14 complaints, filed in Delaware’s Chancery Court, target overlapping groups of roughly a half-dozen AT&T-related entities. They’re styled as shareholder derivative lawsuits brought by minority investors in the regional partnerships against their AT&T-linked controlling stockholders.

The suits accuse AT&T of extracting hundreds of millions in ill-gotten profits from the partnerships—which hold valuable cellular licenses—by using their resources early in the “data revolution” to build its ...