SBC announced today that as part of its acquisition of AT&T that it will re-brand the entire combined company as AT&T. Many have speculated that SBC would authorize Cingular to use the AT&T name once again, restoring the use of the AT&T Wireless brand. This is still unlikely though, as Cingular has invested millions to erase the AT&T Wireless brand, as well as being co-owned by BellSouth, which could provide investor confusion as to who controls Cingular should it be re-branded at AT&T Wireless.
SBC does plan to offer “AT&T Wireless Services Provided by Cingular” as part of the transition. It is also expected that Cingular will no longer have to reference AT&T Wireless as “the company formerly AT&T Wireless” as it stands under the existing re-branding agreement between AT&T Corp and Cingular.
