Bellsouth + SBC
What year did they merge? And before the merger, where they 2 seperate cell phone carriers? 😁
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SBC is a landline phone service provider. Originally, they were a baby Bell company that provided local phone services (they were Southwestern Bell Company, I think), then they bought out Ameritech (local service provider for the Midwest), and became SBC (no longer an acronym). They later started a long distance company SBC Long Distance, and recently bought AT&T. I worked briefly for them in one of their sales depts., but don't know much more about their history.
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SBC used to be just based out of Texas and they had their own wireless carrier called SBC wireless.then they bought Pacific Bell then bought Ameritech in the midwest. Ameritech had their own wireless carrier called Ameritech cellular which the FCC said SBC could not keep then that became Verizon. SBC could not keep ameritech cellular and they wanted to be in the midwest so they bought Cellular One in the midwest and merged it with Bellsouth wireless to form Cingular Wireless. That is just a short version
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Interesting. I didn't like working for them - but I AM thinking of buying stock in them. They seem to be buying up everyone else in the American telcom industry!
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simplymarcus said:Just to further help the confusion I have been hearing from sources at SBC that the name of SBC will be changing once they buy AT&T to AT&T. CRAZY
SBC used to be just based out of Texas and they had their own wireless carrier called SBC wireless.then they bought Pacific Bell then bought Ameritech in the midwest. Ameritech had their own wireless carrier called Ameritech cellular which the FCC said SBC could not keep then that became Verizon. SBC could not keep ameritech cellular and they wanted to be in the midwest so they bought Cellular One in the midwest and merged it with Bellsouth wireless to form Cingular Wireless. That is just a short version
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simplymarcus said:...simplymarcus said:Just to further help the confusion I have been hearing from sources at SBC that the name of SBC will be changing once they buy AT&T to AT&T. CRAZY
SBC used to be just based out of Texas and they had their own wireless carrier called SBC wireless.then they bought Pacific Bell then bought Ameritech in the midwest. Ameritech had their own wireless carrier called Ameritech cellular which the FCC said SBC could not keep then that became Verizon. SBC could not keep ameritech cellular and they wanted to be in the midwest so they bought Cellular One in the midwest and merged it with Bellsouth wireless to form Cingular Wireless. That is just a short version
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simplymarcus said:
Ameritech had their own wireless carrier called Ameritech cellular which the FCC said SBC could not keep then that became Verizon. SBC could not keep ameritech cellular and they wanted to be in the midwest so they bought Cellular One in the midwest and merged it with Bellsouth wireless to form Cingular Wireless. That is just a short version
They ended up only selling the chicago network of Ameritech, everything else stayed with SBC. ex. detroit.
one thing i didnt understand, ameritechs chicago network was the first commercial cellular network in the US, not to mention 800 mhz, why would they sell that and not their PCS spectrum?
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FCC made a ruling that they had to divest assets. They decided to they could not keep that chicago network but they could keep the spectrum. SBC did not want to sell anything to Verizon they had were just follwoing orders.
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Also, Ameritech's network was based off of CDMA technology, so while they would have gained the PCS spectrum they would have had to convert the towers to TDMA.
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I was told that they were "just SBC" and that it no longer meant anything specifically. I could have been misinformed though.
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***BellSouth and SBC are still two separate companies... They just have a joint venture together called "Cingular Wireless" in which SBC owns 60% and BS owns 40%.
They were both baby bells at one point. SBC has gown into a behemoth operating in 13 states and now owns AT&T long distance as well.
They were both baby bells at one point. SBC has gown into a behemoth operating in 13 states and now owns AT&T long distance as well.
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Except they do not officially own AT&T yet. FCC approval is still pending.
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Also, BellSouth as mentioned, had BellSouth Mobility, and in the North and South Carolina area were BellSouth Mobility DCS. The (at that time) largest GSM foot print in the country. That was the origin of GSM for Cingular. Regulations there would not let BellSouth expand their Wireless unit there, so they started a whole new company with (again at that time) a new technology. TDMA was what SBC and BellSouth used at the time. Shortly after the merger is when Southwestern Bell changed the name to SBC. Rumor had it they wanted to distance themselves from being a 'baby bell' and take on a name that could be more dominant, and easier to recognize world wide. They (SBC) also had wireless carries or bought into wireless carriers in Latin America. A...
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