AT&T will buy advertising technology firm Ingenio, compete with Google

Top US telephone company AT&T will buy advertising technology company Ingenio. Ingenio''s technology, called ''pay per call'', allows companies to post online advertisements and pay fees depending on how many phone calls they receive. AT&T said the acquisition - which will boost its directories business and enable the company to compete more directly with Google - will have minimal impact on its financial results. The deal was announced on Monday 19 November, and is expected to close in early January 2008. The terms were not disclosed. Several companies, including Microsoft and Yahoo, have been mentioned as potential buyers of Ingenio, to compete with Google. AT&T said it plans to integrate Ingenio''s technology into its directory service and local search advertising business. The deal will make AT&T more competitive with Google, and help Ingenio gain scale. AT&T is the top US telephone service provider. It offers yellowpages.com, as well as print directories.