AT&T said Friday it is switching from a regionalized structure to a national one to make its landline, DSL and video offerings more universal.

The telecom giant, which bought BellSouth a little over a year ago, quietly launched the internal changes on Wednesday and said that some management jobs will be cut to avoid duplication of duties. The company did not say how many jobs would be cut.

"We will eliminate some redundant management positions, but we don't anticipate the vast majority of management to be affected," AT&T spokesman Steven Smith said.

For example, instead of having a senior vice president for customers for each of AT&T's regions, the company has created one national position.

Smith said it is too early to say when and where the layoffs will occur. Rank-and-file workers —- including managers who deal directly with customers —- are not expected to be affected, he said.

The changes came just days after David Scobey, president and chief executive of AT&T Southeast and one of the executives of the old Atlanta-based BellSouth, announced that he is retiring this year. Scobey's retirement was not related to the changes, the company said.

The San Antonio-based company, which operates its cellphone business out of Atlanta, said the move is part of the evolution of marrying AT&T with BellSouth, which it acquired in December 2006.

The reorganization has led to some promotions for former BellSouth managers. Bob Daniel becomes senior vice president for sales centers after serving as senior VP for consumers for AT&T's Southeast region; John Irwin is now senior VP of major accounts for indirect channels after working as the senior VP for business customer sales for the Southeast. Gary Ludgood is senior VP for network methods and support after being the senior VP for network services for the Southeast.

All three will remain in the Atlanta office. AT&T employs about 21,000 people in metro Atlanta.

AT&T made two other promotions in its mobility and telecommunications operations unit, Smith said. John Dwyer becomes a senior vice president for mobility sale operations; and Stephen McGaw becomes senior vice president over wireless strategy. Smith did not know the jobs that Dwyer and McGaw previously held.

Before the reorganization, AT&T's landline, DSL and video businesses were managed primarily from regional offices. That meant, for example, that broadband from Texas might look entirely different from the service offered in Georgia, Smith said.

Creating a national structure could help bring such differences more in line.

"We are going after one consistent approach," Smith said. "The idea is about having more of a customer-driven approach."

Georgia Public Service Commissioner Robert Baker said having nationwide standards may be one more step in combining AT&T with BellSouth.

"If I were a corporate manager, I would want to have some sort of standardized system," Baker said. "They probably made the quick changes they needed to make ... but then you have to start working on the details on how you are going to run your business."

From a regulatory standpoint, Baker said it's likely that AT&T will try and take policies that work well in one state and see if they can be copied throughout its entire territory.

Roger Entner, senior vice president for the communications sector for IAG Research, said that for AT&T to be lean, it had to eliminate the overlap created by the acquisition.

"I wouldn't say what they are doing is unexpected," he said. "A company like AT&T needs to drive as much efficiency as it can. AT&T promised a lot of cost savings, and this is one way that they can achieve that."