SBC To Take AT&T Name, after merger approval

[hdtvtechno]

SBC To Take AT&T Name
Execs like brand for VoIP, particularly

Posted on 2005-08-31 12:18:02

Business Week is reporting that SBC will change its name to AT&T once the merger of the two companies is complete. SBC execs believe the AT&T branding, burned into American consciousness since 1885, offers them stronger marketing opportunities - particularly when it comes to VoIP service. Approval of the merger is expected to happen sometime around November.

Bussiness week

 

[Foxbat]

Take that, FTC! What part of AT&T isn't back together from last century's government-mandated break? If anything, the new AT&T is bigger than it was.

 

[Peter Parker]

I wonder if my former AT&T cell phone which became Cingualr will go back to AT&T?

 

[Davey Roa]

Cingular is co-owned by Bell South and SBC. It is highly unlikely that AT&T Wireless name will return unless these giants decide to split Cingular.

 

[*mad_professor*]

AT&T Wirelesss was not owned by AT&T. It was sold off years ago and the company leased the brand name. When Cigular purchased the company, the brand name reverted back to AT&T per the terms of that branding contract.

Personally, I think the AT&T wireless brand name is tarnished anyway. They were plagued with problems and the service sucked in most of the places in the country I visited.

 

[riffjim4069]

All we need is Verizon and SBC to merge in order to complete the cycle.

 

[jollygrunt]

I'd last seen AT&T on telephone bills my mom was paying when I was in middle school. It's gonna be weird for me to see AT&T on my own bill's now..

 

[riffjim4069]

I remember when you couldn't own a telephone (had to lease them from Ma Bell) and dialing the telephone meant just that...inserting a finger into the rotor and...well, dialing. And leaving home with a dime to call home was not tolerated in my house.

 

[GaryPen]

And hot dogs cost a nickel!

 

[Purogamer]

Don't waste time calling home, save that energy...As I recall it was uphill both ways back then...

 

[Bob Haller]

Ahh AT&T has never been a success, in any business since time in memoriam.

cellular stank, sold off to keep core business survinving.

at&a cable, rolled over dead.

purchase of computer company, nearly killed it too.


buy high sell low was their mantra.

If I were the new owners I would retire the brand its jinxed

 

[Kaluyen]

Fiber optic cables.....transistors.....UNIX.....lasers.....C/C++.....stereo recording.....motion picture sound.....

Naaa...AT&T hasn't done anything successful....

 

[mperdue]

I wonder if my former AT&T cell phone which became Cingualr will go back to AT&T?

Yes, It looks like both SBC and Cingular will be taking the AT&T name.

Mario

 

[RIRWIN1983]

Yes, It looks like both SBC and Cingular will be taking the AT&T name.
Mario

SBC owns 60% share in Cingular, and is planning on going back to the At&T Wireless name. they are curently neg. with bellsouth about how they are gonna handle it (maybebuy them up too? lol) but i agree with outhers its going to be wierd seeing that logo on my phone bill. they are allready rebranding the SBC Yahoo! DSL To AT&T Yahoo! DSL logo on some stuff i see on their site, At the announcemtn they had a few new repair vans with the new logo on it. So it seems that SBC is taking the At&T name and running full speed (into a wall maybe) with it. i have do admit the new logo is a lil cool lookin.

 

[chaddux]

SBC owns 60% share in Cingular, and is planning on going back to the At&T Wireless name. they are curently neg. with bellsouth about how they are gonna handle it (maybebuy them up too? lol) but i agree with outhers its going to be wierd seeing that logo on my phone bill. they are allready rebranding the SBC Yahoo! DSL To AT&T Yahoo! DSL logo on some stuff i see on their site, At the announcemtn they had a few new repair vans with the new logo on it. So it seems that SBC is taking the At&T name and running full speed (into a wall maybe) with it. i have do admit the new logo is a lil cool lookin.

That would be one of the most absurd things they could possibly do. Cingular, in my opinion, is a much better name for a wireless company than something as boring and unoriginal as AT&T Wireless. They have spent millions of dollars building the Cingular brand (and eliminating the AT&T Wireless brand) only to have to spend millions more to un-do what they just finished a few months ago. Sometimes, I wonder whether these corporate people actually think before they make a decision. Of course, I thought the decision to take the AT&T name over the SBC name was stupid as well.

 

[voomvoom]

Isn't it strange how times have changed? Back in the 70's (I think) the Justice Department broke up Ma Bell (A.T.&T.). In effect what that did was release all the technology from the Bell Laboratories which was being held by A.T.&T. because the Government wouldn't let A.T.&T. have monopolies on that technology. The break-up allowed the Government to release A.T.&T. from it's Government restrictions if A.T.&T. broke up and then allowed A.T.&T. to compete with other companies with technology they invented, which had been denied previously by the Government.
What I'm getting at, is now, slowly but surely, those splinter companies are merging back together to become the monopoly they (it) once were/was. Just my thoughts.

Al

 

[Jimbo]

Cingular is co-owned by Bell South and SBC. It is highly unlikely that AT&T Wireless name will return unless these giants decide to split Cingular.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SBC bought out AT&T wireless, and is currently upgrading AT&T 's terrible wireless towers.

Cingular is NOT owned by Bell South, Bell South is owner by SBC , now AT&T.

Cingular IS owned by SBC/AT&T

This whole ordeal frustrates me to know end.
For the last 15 years,I have been telling subs that SBC is NOT AT&T and now I am suppose to tell them that we are again .....

THe new tag line is : The NEW AT&T Powered by SBC

Good Grief !!!!

The new tag line is : The NEW AT&T Powered by SBC

Jimbo


Paychacks have always said Ohio Bell on them ..... Let's see Ohio Bell, Ameritech, SBC, AT&T, in the last 15 years, still paid by Ohio Bell

 

[chaddux]

SBC bought out AT&T wireless.

Cingular is NOT owned by Bell South, Bell South is owner by SBC , now AT&T.

Cingular IS owned by SBC/AT&T

WRONG WRONG WRONG. Wrong in every way.

No one get confused. Let's correct this right now.

SBC did NOT buy AT&T Wireless. Cingular (a totally separate entity) bought AT&T Wireless.

BellSouth is NOT the owner of SBC. BellSouth is NOT the owner of AT&T. AT&T/SBC and BellSouth are NOT the same company. They are entirely separate companies.

SBC bought AT&T. The combined company took the AT&T name.

Cingular is NOT wholly owned by AT&T/SBC. Cingular is a joint venture of AT&T/SBC and BellSouth. AT&T/SBC owns 60% of Cingular. BellSouth owns the remaining 40% of Cingular.

EDIT: You can even read all of that in this USA Today article.

 

[Jimbo]

WRONG WRONG WRONG. Wrong in every way.
No one get confused. Let's correct this right now.
SBC did NOT buy AT&T Wireless. Cingular (a totally separate entity) bought AT&T Wireless.
BellSouth is NOT the owner of SBC. BellSouth is NOT the owner of AT&T. AT&T/SBC and BellSouth are NOT the same company. They are entirely separate companies.
SBC bought AT&T. The combined company took the AT&T name.
Cingular is NOT wholly owned by AT&T/SBC. Cingular is a joint venture of AT&T/SBC and BellSouth. AT&T/SBC owns 60% of Cingular. BellSouth owns the remaining 40% of Cingular.
EDIT: You can even read all of that in this USA Today article.

OK , have it your way, SBC owns MOST of these , Bell south was one of the few Bells not under the SBC conglomaerate ???? Is this what you are trying to say.

SBC IS the owner of the phone companies in 13 states .
No I am not going to list them , causeI don't want to get into it .

I know where my pay chack comes from, and what companies we own and or share ownership with .
Sounds as if you are one of the people that has decided that SBC is no good for anything, So everyone is entitled to thier opinion

How long will it be till we buy Bell South, then we wont have to share..

Jimbo

 

[chaddux]

OK , have it your way, SBC owns MOST of these , Bell south was one of the few Bells not under the SBC conglomaerate ???? Is this what you are trying to say.

I'm not trying to say it. It is fact. Just because you choose not to believe it doesn't make it any less of a fact. SBC does NOT own BellSouth. Here is an article dated just one month ago speculating on the possibility of a merger between SBC and BellSouth. If SBC already owned BellSouth (as you say), how could they possibly be speculating about a merger? You can't merge with a company you already own.

You indicate that SBC owns "most" of the bells. You're wrong again and here's why. One former baby bell was Nynex. Does SBC own Nynex? Nope. It merged with Bell Atlantic (another baby bell). Does SBC own Bell Atlantic? Nope. Bell Atlantic merged with GTE to create Verizon. Does SBC own Verizon? Nope. Does SBC own US West (another baby bell)? Nope. That's owned by Qwest. Does SBC own Qwest? Nope. So that's three baby bells right there that SBC does NOT own in any way. You add BellSouth (another baby bell) and that's a total of four. There were only seven baby bells and SBC doesn't own any of those four. That means they own less than half of the baby bells. According to you, SBC owns "most" of them. Do they own most of them? Nope. They don't even own half.

Ohio Bell was not a Baby Bell. It was one of the pre-1984 breakup companies known as Bell Operating companies that were all owned by Ma Bell. The operating companies were divided and combined in various ways to create the seven Baby Bells after the break-up. There were 22 Bell Operating Companies (all divided into seven Baby Bells). SBC owns only 9 of the former Bell Operating companies. Again, that's less than half. They don't own half of the Bell Operating companies. They don't own half of the Baby Bells. They don't own "most" of the Bells.

I know where my pay chack comes from, and what companies we own and or share ownership with .

Apparently, you don't.

Sounds as if you are one of the people that has decided that SBC is no good for anything

That's completely and utterly absurd. At no point did I state an opinion of SBC. Personally, I like SBC and SBC is currently the provider of my local, long distance, and internet services. I just think the decision to take the AT&T name was a bad idea.

How long will it be till we buy Bell South, then we wont have to share..

Apparently, you can't remember your own argument. You've already said, "Bell South is owner by SBC." In your follow-up reply, you said, "I know where my pay chack comes from, and what companies we own and or share ownership with." Now, you're asking how long until SBC buys BellSouth. So which is it? If you know where your pay check comes from and "what companies we own," why are you asking how long until SBC buys BellSouth?