It's official: AT&T is the largest pay TV provider in the U.S. and the world.

The company on Friday announced it has completed its $48.5 billion takeover of DirecTV. The announcement came shortly after the Federal Communications Commission the same day voted to approve the acquisition.

"Combining DirecTV with AT&T is all about giving customers more choices for great video entertainment integrated with mobile and high-speed Internet service," AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said in a statement. "We'll now be able to meet consumers' future entertainment preferences, whether they want traditional TV service with premier programming, their favorite content on a mobile device, or video streamed over the Internet to any screen."

He added that the acquisition will allow AT&T to "significantly expand" its high-speed Internet service to reach "millions more households." AT&T now has more than 26 million video and satellite TV customers in the U.S.

"We're now a fundamentally different company with a diversified set of capabilities and businesses that set us apart from the competition," Stephenson said.

Current AT&T and DirecTV customers will continue to receive the same services, channel lineups, and customer care as they did before the merger. Customer account information, online access, and billing arrangements will also remain the same.

The company said it plans to integrate DirecTV over the coming months, and expects to launch a new "integrated TV, mobile, and high-speed Internet" offering in the next few weeks.

AT&T in May 2014 first announced plans to acquire DirecTV in a $48.5 billion agreement that it said will provide more customers with mobile, broadband, and pay TV service bundles.

DirecTV shareholders in September approved the deal, which was expected to be complete in the first half of 2015. But earlier this year, the FCC called a timeout on the mega-merger, based on a pending court decision concerning the disclosure of video-programming contracts.

Then earlier this week, the FCC signaled that it would approve the buy, albeit with a few restrictions. In an effort to prevent discrimination against online video competition, AT&T will not be permitted to exclude its own video services and content from data caps on its network. The company will also be required to expand its high-speed fiber Internet footprint to 12.5 million customer locations, and offer broadband services to low-income customers at discounted rates.