June 20 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge granted preliminary

approval on Friday to a $177 million settlement that resolves

data security lawsuits against AT&T ( T ) over breaches that

exposed personal information belonging to tens of millions of

the telecom giant's customers.

U.S. District Judge Ada Brown in the federal court in

Dallas, Texas, said in a ruling that the class-action settlement

was fair and reasonable.

The deal resolves claims over data breaches that AT&T ( T )

announced in May and July last year.