Update: Sources have provided us with an internal statement from Cingular CEO Stan Sigman. Hit Read More to read it in its entirety. He confirms that AT&T and BellSouth leadership were incorrect in their rebranding assertions, and that AT&T would simply be selling Cingular services on a national scale, similar to how SBC currently offers bundled Cingular at a regional level.
Update: Conflicting information has begun to be released. Cingular media relations has now issued a denial of the branding change. However, this comes in direct conflict with the statements made by SBC and BellSouth leadership, which combined owns all of Cingular, meaning before this release both sides agreed on the same conflicting information. It is also possible that the statements made today by Cingular media relations are carefully-worded cover to deter people from coming to a conclusion the company has already reached. We will continue to keep you updated.
We are cursed to live in interesting times. AT&T Inc (the merged company of SBC and AT&T Corp) will leverage their majority stake in Cingular to rebrand the combined company as AT&T Wireless. BellSouth, who owns 40% of Cingular says they will not fight the name change.
Cingular To Be Sold Under AT&T
Stan Sigman: Clarification of Today’s USA Today Article
Dear Colleagues,
I would like to take this opportunity to decrease the potential distractions and add concrete information about on-going speculation and a story in today’s USA Today that the new AT&T plans to market wireless services under a brand other than Cingular.
There are two important things that I want you to remember about what this means for Cingular. First, this isn’t a surprise, and second, Cingular has been, is, and will remain a national brand.
We have more than 52 million customers. Our size, national presence, and brand are definite advantages. BellSouth and AT&T (formerly SBC) support marketing Cingular as a national brand. AT&T’s plans will not change the way we market Cingular.
Reselling Cingular services under another name has always been permitted under the terms of our joint venture. Reselling has served other companies well.
Even today, when BellSouth and AT&T sell wireless services as part of a bundle of wired and wireless services, the customer receives a bill from BellSouth or AT&T � not from Cingular. Most importantly, if either BellSouth or AT&T purchases wireless services from Cingular and markets them under another name, the results still show up in our balance sheet and are beneficial to Cingular. Gross adds � by any name � show up on Cingular’s bottom line.
I hope that this information gives you a more complete context for today’s story and on-going speculation.
Finally, let’s keep our focus. This is our most important selling period � our attention must continue being on connecting wireless customers to our services and delivering on our 4Rs.
Stan Sigman
President and CEO
Cingular Wireless
