Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Say "Goodbye" to AT&T, as Baby Bell eats Ma.
First the kids eat Ma's business, then they eat Ma.
Plenty of us are old enough to remember when every phone was an AT&T phone. But this is what kids do to even the mightiest of parents.SBC Communications has agreed to buy former parent AT&T for $16 billion, creating the nation's largest communications company and ending the independent run of a company whose roots stretch back to the telephone's invention...
Once known as Ma Bell, [AT&T] handled the nation's telephone calls before it was broken apart 21 years ago. The Bedminster, N.J.-based company today has nearly 30 million long-distance customers.
"Today's agreement is a huge step forward in our efforts to build a company that will lead an American communications revolution in the 21st century," Edward Whitacre, SBC chairman and chief executive, said in a statement...
AT&T, whose market value and revenues peaked in 1999, has been slammed by increasing competition from SBC and other dominant local carriers in the long-distance market ...
AT&T last July withdrew from its traditional residential phone market, stung by government regulation and a changing marketplace as consumers turn increasingly to wireless services...
In 1984, AT&T settled a Justice Department antitrust lawsuit by agreeing to spin off the regional Bells, companies known today as SBC, BellSouth, Verizon Communications and Qwest Communications (Q, news, msgs).
Former Federal Communications Commission chief Reed Hundt had deemed a reunion "unthinkable" in 1997... [MSN]
R.I.P.
