NEW YORK: Edward Whitacre built AT&T Inc into the biggest US provider of telephone service over a 43-year-career. By his own admission, he becomes chairman of General Motors Corp knowing nothing about the auto industry.

The 6-foot-4-inch Texan nicknamed "Big Ed" said steering the nation's largest automaker after bankruptcy is "a public service". People who know him say he can meet GM's need for the type of transformation he orchestrated at Dallas-based AT&T.

"I don't know anything about cars," Whitacre, 67, said in an interview after his appointment. "A business is a business, and I think I can learn about cars. I'm not that old, and I think the business principles are the same."