As expected, both AT&T and BellSouth shareholders today voted overwhelmingly to approve the companies' merger. AT&T officials today said 98% of the votes cast were in favor of the merger. Earlier in the day, at a shareholder meeting today in Atlanta, BellSouth company officials said that votes representing about 97% of votes that were cast were in favor of the merger, representing about 67% of the company's outstanding shares.

In a meeting lasting about half an hour, BellSouth shareholders questioned CEO Duane Ackerman on multiple issues, including impact on employees and the liability for a pending lawsuit against AT&T over the alleged release of customer records to the National Security Agency.

Ackerman said the two companies are a nice cultural fit, which should benefit employees in the transition, and said that AT&T will not move Cingular's headquarters out of Atlanta for at least five years after the merger.

The $67 billion merger, announced last March, has been approved by 14 of the 18 states that must give their blessing but must still be approved by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice. Approval is pending in Florida, Missisippi, Kentucky and Arizona, according to a BellSouth spokesperson. California regulators have approved BellSouth's withdrawal from the long-distance market there but the company must still notify its customers. In Georgia, state regulators are reviewing two complaints against the merger, even though regualtory approval isn't required there.

In announcing the vote, AT&T Chairman Edward Whitacre said in a prepared statement that the new company will seek to maintain BellSouth's close ties to its local communities, as well as its level of local giving.