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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SBC
COMMUNICATIONS TO ADOPT AT&T NAME
- Following Merger Approval, Combined SBC-AT&T Will
Build on a 120-Year Heritage of Innovation, Service Quality,
Integrity, Reliability
- New AT&T Logo to be Unveiled at Merger Close,
Major Multimedia Advertising, Marketing Campaign to be Launched
view
pdf version of this release
SAN ANTONIO,
TEXAS (October 27, 2005) – The brand known worldwide
for telecommunications innovation, quality and reliability
will soon become synonymous with the transition to a new era
of integrated communications and entertainment services.
SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE:SBC) today announced it will
adopt AT&T, Inc. as its name following completion of its
acquisition of AT&T (NYSE:T), which is expected in late
2005.
“The AT&T name has a proud and storied heritage,
as well as unparalleled recognition around the globe among
both businesses and consumers,” said Edward E. Whitacre
Jr., chairman and CEO of SBC Communications Inc. “No
name is better-suited than AT&T to represent the new company’s
passion to deliver innovation, reliability, quality, integrity
and unsurpassed customer care. This is the brand that will
lead the industry in delivering the next generation of communications
and entertainment services.”
The decision is a milestone in the history of telecommunications,
extending the reign of a global icon. AT&T is inextricably
linked to the birth and growth of the communications industry
– delivering ground-breaking innovations that enabled
modern computers and electronic devices, wireless phones and
Voice over IP (VoIP). The brand also has represented quality
service, integrity and reliability for more than 120 years.
At close, the new company will unveil a fresh, new logo. After
completion of the merger, the transition to the new brand
will be heavily promoted with the largest multimedia advertising
and marketing campaign in either company’s history,
as well as through other promotional initiatives. At close,
the company will also announce the stock market ticker symbol
it intends to use.
SBC Communications
Announces Plan to Utilize AT&T Brand/add one
The famed
AT&T brand will be used in a broad array of services offered
by the family of companies. The brand transition will begin
immediately upon merger close, along with the integration
of networks, product and service portfolios, and customer
care systems. The new brand will be incorporated into product
and service offerings, and will appear on bills and correspondence,
as well as on company buildings.
With these traits and long heritage, the AT&T brand will
provide a strong platform as the combined company leads the
industry’s evolution to a new generation of Internet
Protocol (IP)-based services, which can be delivered via wireline
or wireless networks to any number of enabled devices such
as mobile phones, PCs and hand-held digital devices.
The AT&T brand was selected because it provides the best
brand platform to bridge the combined companies’ wide
range of customer segments, diverse geographies and robust
portfolio of products, services and customer care. The AT&T
brand is especially strong in the critical enterprise market,
where leading chief information officers and industry experts
widely acknowledge it as the brand of choice and where it
is strongly associated with industry innovation and leadership.
Additionally, it has almost universal awareness as a communications
brand: Internal research shows that in the United States,
consumer awareness of the AT&T brand is
98 percent and business awareness is virtually 100 percent,
while global awareness is nearly as high.
“The AT&T brand reflects what customers are looking
for in a provider,” Whitacre said. “They want
the latest technology and services, but they also want reliability,
quality and trustworthiness. Only the AT&T brand offers
this ideal combination of traits.”
Neither SBC nor AT&T residential, business or wholesale
customers are required to take action as a result of today’s
announcement. They will continue to be served by their current
provider as they have been in the past. They should order
services, pay bills and request help from their current provider
as they always have. Customers can visit www.sbc.com/newsroom
for more details.
SBC Communications
Announces Plan to Utilize AT&T Brand/add two
Strengthening
a 120-Year Heritage for the 21st Century
The communications industry is currently in the midst of the
most substantial technology change in more than 100 years.
IP allows the delivery of voice, data, video and entertainment
services over a single network infrastructure, enabling integration
of services like never before. Ultimately, the SBC-AT&T
merger is driven by the objective to deliver a full range
of these integrated IP services to customers, accessible seamlessly
via wireline or wireless connections.
“The brand we associate with the invention of the telecommunications
industry is the brand that will soon represent the re-invention
of communications and entertainment,” Whitacre said.
“The combination of SBC and AT&T will bring together
the right assets and the right strategy to be a very strong
competitor in this new IP-based services market, and we fully
intend to make the most of this once-in-a-century opportunity.”
This strategy
will be enabled by the combination of SBC’s and AT&T’s
complementary strengths. In fact, SBC local service and broadband
capabilities – 50.2 million access lines and 6.5 million
DSL lines in service – and the advanced and powerful
AT&T global IP backbone network and software infrastructure
will give the new company unparalleled IP assets in the marketplace.
Together, the two companies can maximize those assets and
develop new IP innovations more effectively than either company
could on its own. In addition, SBC companies offer nationwide
wireless coverage through Cingular Wireless, which has more
than 52.3 million subscribers across the country. SBC owns
60 percent of Cingular.
# # #
About
SBC
SBC Communications
Inc. is a Fortune 50 company whose subsidiaries, operating
under the SBC brand, provide a full range of voice, data,
networking, e-business, directory publishing and advertising,
and related services to businesses, consumers and other telecommunications
providers. SBC holds a 60 percent ownership interest in Cingular
Wireless, which serves more than 52 million wireless customers.
SBC companies provide high-speed DSL Internet access lines
to more American consumers than any other provider and are
among the nation's leading providers of Internet services.
SBC companies also offer satellite TV service. Additional
information about SBC and SBC products and services is available
at www.sbc.com.
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