Tellabs, the chief supplier of fiber access gear to Verizon Communications and the former BellSouth, has been having more intimate discussions with AT&T following its merger with BellSouth, according to the vendor’s chief financial officer, Tim Wiggins.

“We’re having much more strategic discussions with AT&T,” Wiggins said. “How that plays out time will tell. You know how when you go home for Thanksgiving, there’s the kids’ table and the adults’ table? We feel like we’re at the adults’ table.”

AT&T is “very interested” in Tellabs’ 1150 multiservice access system, the platform built upon the fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC) gear deployed by BellSouth, Wiggins said at an investor conference this morning.

BellSouth has passed more than a million homes with the FTTC gear it originally purchased from Marconi, whose access business was acquired by AFC, which was in turn acquired by Tellabs.

BellSouth’s merger with AT&T left the industry wondering whether AT&T, which is deploying fiber-to-the-node (FTTN) gear from Alcatel in its own network, would continue BellSouth’s deployment of FTTC or deploy FTTN throughout its newly expanded footprint.

Before the AT&T/BellSouth merger, “We had assurances they’d largely use the vendors they had in the past,” Wiggins said.

Some analysts have speculated that AT&T might shift its strategy to include more fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) deployment, though AT&T has repeatedly dismissed the notion. AT&T currently deploys FTTP to newly constructed homes.

AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon all issued requests for proposals (RFPs) of gigabit passive optical networking (GPON) gear in November 2005. At the time, Tellabs focused more on Verizon’s requirements, Wiggins said. “The 1150 wasn’t ready at that point.”

Although Verizon named three GPON suppliers in July 2006 (Alcatel, Motorola and Tellabs), AT&T has yet to announce its GPON vendor selections.