GigaOM is reporting that AT&T, the San Antonio, Texas-based phone company, is going through some executive changes and making some cuts in its big VP corps, according to sources close to the company:

"[AT&T] is offering packages to VP-level executives in the hopes that they'll leave. If they don't want to leave, they will be demoted," blogger Om Malik reports, calling it the classic carrot-and-stick approach.

Other recent moves at AT&T include the hiring of former VeriSign executive John Donavon as AT&T's CTO, and the resignation of Andrew Stern, USi's former CEO before it was acquired by AT&T.