New York, NY — March 10, 2026
Representatives from AT&T and the Alexander and Mabel Bell Legacy Foundation will ring the Opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, at 9:30 a.m. ET to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first intelligible telephone call.
On March 10, 1876, Dr. Alexander Graham Bell successfully transmitted the human voice through a telephone device, calling to his assistant, Thomas Watson. That brief exchange marked the beginning of a communications revolution that would reshape business, commerce, and everyday life around the world.
The NYSE Opening Bell ceremony honors the lasting impact of Bell’s invention and the global communications industry that grew from it. The NYSE bell—an iconic, electrically operated brass bell that has signaled the start and close of the trading day since the 1870s—serves as a fitting symbol of innovation, enterprise, and technological progress.
AT&T, which traces its origins to the Bell Telephone Company founded following Bell’s breakthrough, joins the Alexander and Mabel Bell Legacy Foundation in recognizing the legacy of the invention that changed how people connect.
“The first phone call sparked an entirely new way for people and businesses to deepen connections and thrive,” said John Stankey, Chairman and CEO of AT&T. “Today, we carry the spirit of communication forward in bold new ways, powering connections for a new generation more limitless than ever before.”
The bell ringing celebrates not only a historic invention, but 150 years of communication that continues to bring people, businesses, and communities together.
