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AT&T, Cingular, T-Mobile merger

TomZ

Oct 22, 2003, 9:27 AM
I keep hearing about a possible merger. Obviously, roaming agreements are important between all three, but is a merger even possible? How could these GSM carriers merge independent of their parent companies?
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cellphfrk

Oct 22, 2003, 3:55 PM
can't happen...it would be a monopoly. the rumors with attws and cingular have been going on for months. i don't think that would happen since attws would be the biggest carrier, even bigger than verizon....like ten fold!
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BEEPERDEPOT7

Oct 22, 2003, 4:40 PM
CINGULAR WIRELESS HAS THE MONEY TO BUY AT&T AND T-MOBILE ALL AT ONCE. THEY ARE ONE OF THE TOP TWO CARRIERS IN THE UNITED STATES!!! SIZE WISE!!!!
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cellphfrk

Oct 22, 2003, 6:33 PM
so if that's the case, why did cingular get sued and lost a lawsuit in CA?
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KarbonCopy

Oct 22, 2003, 7:09 PM
At&t coudl probably put Cingular in their pocket. But anyways, a merger would cost way too much money and would cause alot of stress for wireless users. Imagine all the people afraid of change? think about the one thing they have spent so much time to figure out. And just when they feel confortable with they're wireless provider, BAM! merger.
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GuillermoH

Oct 22, 2003, 7:44 PM
🤣 Doubt it. AT&T and Cingular are competitors and Verizon isn't that much of a threat.
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jessalyn

Oct 23, 2003, 9:50 AM
Verizon may not be a threat in all areas; however it is a complete threat in New Jersey - at least in the suburbs. You couldn't get a signal with AT&T or Cingular standing on a mountain here. Verizon has exceptional service here... in fact it is the most popular wireless service carrier. 😉
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Juanbyjuan

Oct 13, 2008, 2:12 PM
Cingular alreadys owns AT&T wireless...just changed their name to AT&T...but yea, if At&t would buy Tmobile...that would cause legal actions from Verizon to prevent that.
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wb

Oct 22, 2003, 9:21 PM
The last time I heard this one it had to do with T-Mobile and AT&T. Perhaps all this merger talk is because T-Mobile is an outsider. Or perhaps this is really going to happen. This is one of those wait and see things.
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KarbonCopy

Oct 22, 2003, 9:25 PM
If i know money hungry freaks, and well being a human being i do, At& T will continue to make its money by using its name as the oldest name in wireless communications and extended coverage to make money off little companies like t-mobile. What would AT$T gain by merging? They'd lose out on soo much.


Sorry i cant spell.
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TomZ

Oct 23, 2003, 9:32 AM
I'm not like some insider on this issue or anything, but I know here in the Detroit market AT&T is on the downside. The small Cingular agent store I run inside of a Meijer store (like super Wal-mart) does more business than the big corporate AT&T store down the road. If AT&T is going to do the GSM thing, they need to get on the ball.

I know in Michigan anyway, AT&T and Cingular share all their GSM coverage and have an agreement that if one builds here, the other won't.
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Big Poppa

Oct 23, 2003, 1:44 PM
Ok everyone, there is no frakin talks of a merger between the 3 companies. so stop fighting.. the only thing that all 3 of those companies has done, is made LNP Porting agreements amongst each other. There are no talks of merging together into one company.
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jessalyn

Oct 24, 2003, 1:24 PM
Actually, there is. Rumour has it that T-Mobile/VoiceStream or whatever they are calling themselves today is going under and Nextel is merging with AT&T.
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TomZ

Oct 24, 2003, 5:13 PM
I doubt that T-mobile is going under since it's an international corporation. I also highly doubt that AT&T would merge with Nextel considering they're not taking the same 3g path. 😕
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Big Poppa

Oct 24, 2003, 5:26 PM
I personally have not seen anything to spport these rumors. T-mobile is doing just fine on their own, and arent in need of a buy out. and with AT&& and Nextel.. That would cost AT&T LOTS of money to convert the entire Nextel system to GSM from iDEN. Besides I have alos heard "Rumors" of VZW buying spirnt, and I WORK for VZW and havent heard anything about that here.. VZW would not be able to buy any of the major carriers becuz the FCC most likely wouldnt approve it, becuz it would help them monopolize the market. Remember MCI tried that with Sprint and was denied by the FCC.
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TomZ

Oct 24, 2003, 5:46 PM
You know, I love it when ya call me Big Poppa.

You're totally right. It would be next to impossible to convert iDEN over to GSM. AT&T can't even afford their weak little GSM network, let alone a major corporate purchase.
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emurillojr

Oct 25, 2003, 3:46 PM
who said anything about converting it over att just wants to buy them out... also att BUILT that system nextel uses.
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NickW504

Oct 25, 2003, 8:03 PM
David Faber of CNBC reported Friday that Bellsouth is in "Serious" talks to aquire AT&T, this would mean alot for Cingular....not to mention the Bellsouth's market cap is 3x that of AT&T's
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TomZ

Oct 27, 2003, 10:08 AM
Yeah, I heard about the Bellsouth buying AT&T thing Friday. We'll see what happens. That proves even further that AT&T is in no position to buy Nextel.

tz
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Bob Bob

Oct 27, 2003, 1:13 PM
This merger concerns AT&T Corp, not AT&T Wireless. They're two separate companies
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TomZ

Oct 27, 2003, 2:29 PM
Hey, you're right. I forgot about that.
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neilson

Oct 27, 2003, 3:42 PM
Let's be clear though; does anyone really believe that AT&T Wireless will keep it's existing name when AT&T Corp. merges with BLS? Yes I know ATTWS has been a fully independent company from AT&T Corp for a number of years, but if Merger does happen, consumers will be scratching their heads trying to understand how AT&T(Word from CNBC is that the AT&T name will stick)has a minority interest in Cingular, but not in ATTWS! And clearly, if AT&T Corp forces ATTWS to change its name through litigation or whatever and drop it's identity, then that's going to have major PR problems for the wireless division. I hope I'm wrong on this; ATTWS has great name-recognition and a name change would surely have negative implications on attracting customers a...
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TomZ

Oct 28, 2003, 10:07 AM
Those are excellent points. We'll have to wait and see how it all pans out.
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prcstrp

Oct 28, 2003, 7:02 PM
There was an all employee conference today for ATT wireless and NO ATTWS is not merging with anyone. By the way I work for ATT wireless so the conformation was verified by the CEO. Attws will not have to change its name if ATT corp merges...has nothing to do with wireless.
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neilson

Oct 29, 2003, 12:59 AM
prcstrp said:
There was an all employee conference today for ATT wireless and NO ATTWS is not merging with anyone. By the way I work for ATT wireless so the conformation was verified by the CEO. Attws will not have to change its name if ATT corp merges...has nothing to do with wireless.



Thanks for the info, that helps answer my question. So, while ATTWS is not going ot have to change it's name or anything regardless of whatever happens to AT&T Corp, U didn't say that AT&T Corp. and Bellsouth WEREN'T merging, which leads me to wonder if these 2 landline powerhouses do plan to come together soon....... 😁
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TomZ

Oct 29, 2003, 11:21 AM
Is AT&T Wireless stil selling mobile phones? You sure don't hear much from them these days.
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cellphfrk

Oct 29, 2003, 3:12 PM
I don't know where you have been, but attws has been advertising thru radio, t.v., newspaper, and the internet. 🤭
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TomZ

Oct 29, 2003, 4:27 PM
Do they still activate phones?
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cellphfrk

Oct 29, 2003, 7:17 PM
yup
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prcstrp

Oct 29, 2003, 8:46 PM
yes
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prcstrp

Oct 29, 2003, 8:46 PM
Honestly, i guess u haven't been watching too much tv or listening to the radio lately. The new campaign add is Reachout on the wireless service America trusts. www.attws.com start with phones
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prcstrp

Oct 29, 2003, 8:43 PM
I couldn't tell you. ATTWS has nothing to do with att landline and their decisions. We get alot of calls asking about landline services.
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Sun_Com

Nov 7, 2003, 12:55 PM
But you have heard the rumor of AT&T buying Suncom in the Mid-Atlantic correct?
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neilson

Nov 7, 2003, 9:17 PM
Sun_Com said:
But you have heard the rumor of AT&T buying Suncom in the Mid-Atlantic correct?

God I hope so! The only thing keeping me at AT&T TDMA is that I get free roaming on Suncom in NE GA, the Carolinas, and VA. As long as ATTWS and Suncom expect me to pay 69 cents/min to use a GSM phone in said areas, I will stick to TDMA.
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Sun_Com

Nov 8, 2003, 1:08 PM
Now that's funny, because SunCom can roam on att and cingluar GSM with no charge.
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brodfukker

Oct 28, 2003, 1:08 PM
seriously doubt it...

Can anyone remember when there weren't any talks of mergers in this biz?!?!?!?!?! 🤣 🤣 🤣
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Jrockemsockem

Oct 1, 2008, 4:38 PM
Sorry to let the cat out of the bag, but att & cingular merge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Xantho99

Oct 8, 2008, 4:44 PM
lol
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Fandim

Oct 10, 2008, 9:44 PM
Cingular would never even DREAM of merging with AT&T. Ever. Never. Period. Not possible. It would make no sense. The FCC would not let it. They would be too big.

LoL.

Every excuse why they would never merge.
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mist668

Nov 3, 2008, 6:14 PM
They did merge, only as a multi million dollar tax write off to upgrade equipment and settle roaming agreements for the next many years.
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Maarek

Nov 4, 2008, 10:47 PM
Due to T-Com from Europe owning over 30% of T-Mobile's stock, I highly doubt they would let the merger happen since they make tons off the international calling from their carrier and T-Mobile.
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Saint.Patrick

Nov 5, 2008, 1:02 AM
Even though the FCC and DOJ will allow a foreign entity to have no greater than a 30% vested interest in a wireless carrier, there isn't anything stating that a foreign entity can't have the proverbial finger in numerous pies. If I was DT, I would take the excess 10% out of T Mobile USA and try investing it in at&t as a minority owner.
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ajlineman

Nov 11, 2008, 9:14 PM
I think its funny to read over all this now that a partial merger has already taken plan and Cingular has gone back to AT&T. Any new updates on the T-Mobile idea or was that strictly rumor?
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Azeron

Nov 16, 2008, 8:56 PM
Back when this thread began Cingular was going to obtain either AT&T Wireless or T-Mobile. AT&T Wireless was easier as they were an independent company unlike T-Mobile. So it happened. I don't T-Mobile will ever be acquired now as they spent so much money in the AWS auction and acquiring SunCon. Before these things happened, I would not have been at all surprised.
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ajlineman

Nov 19, 2008, 10:58 PM
Understandably so. I think I read somewhere that they(T-Mobile) have roaming agreements with AT&T... if that's the case... why are we constantly hearing that their service is the worse out there?
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Azeron

Nov 20, 2008, 9:54 AM
Just how goog is AT&T's service? The way roaming agreements work is that they only kick in in areas where carrier A has no service. In areas where both carriers have service Carrier A is not going to allow it's customer's to roam on Carrier B's network. That would cost money. I'll give an example that I am familiar with. I have Verizon and my ex-girlfriend has Sprint. She called Sprint to complain about her service and they gave her free roaming ($10 value) I would be getting five fat bars and she'd get one. She switched to roaming and suddenly she'd get five bars too. But Sprint has to pay Verizon for every minute of that. So they really don't want their customers to do that unless they have no network in an area. I do believe th...
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ajlineman

Nov 20, 2008, 4:15 PM
Yeah I have the simply everything plan and it does include roaming, which is sweet.
But if the service is degraded so horribly in a T-Mobile area, why wouldn't the phone switch to roaming. Are custies just not aware that they can pay a little extra for roaming and have the option to run off AT&T towers?
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-chels-

Jan 21, 2009, 6:46 PM
Does anyone know where this rumor even got started?
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