Comments on: AT&T To Buy BellSouth http://gigaom.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/ Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:48:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: A.Leonard Nusbaum http://gigaom.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115549 Sun, 21 Jan 2007 23:17:56 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115549 I have Bell South Phone Service and Cingular combined Billing. May I add Att World Net to My combined Billing, instead of Paying currently via Credit Card. You can contact Me at 1-910-256-2508. Thank You!
Len Nusbaum PS Am I entitled to any further discounts since I have Phone, Cell Phone and World Net with you all?

]]> By: Todd Underwood http://gigaom.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115548 Tue, 07 Mar 2006 04:24:57 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115548 Agreed, this is no surprise. It still doesn’t even come close to making AT&T as big as its main three competitors (Level3, Verizon, Sprint) in the Internet backbone game (this is the subject of this blog, right, the Internet?) The real question is what is next. I tried to address this over at my blog. Level (3) is the winner for the time being but they have to solve their Asia problem. I have a theory for how they might want to do that.

]]> By: Daniel Spisak http://gigaom.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115547 Mon, 06 Mar 2006 16:54:48 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115547 Update: AT&T, Verizon confirm the merger. “This merger is a logical next step that creates substantial value for customers and stockholders of both AT&T and Verizon,” said AT&T Chairman and CEO Edward E. Whitacre Jr in a statement. “It will benefit customers through new services and expanded service capabilities. It will strengthen AT&T through unified ownership and a single brand.” In other words, AT&T will soon be back as “Ma Bell.”

]]> By: Ab http://gigaom.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115546 Mon, 06 Mar 2006 16:41:04 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115546 Vonage? Sorry, doesn’t even enter the picture here.

]]> By: Daniel Spisak http://gigaom.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115545 Mon, 06 Mar 2006 16:13:04 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115545 Well Om, you already know how I feel about this merger to be. I suggest we start calling Ed Whitacre the soon to be Chairman of Standard Telecom. So much for anti-trust law in this country, to say nothing of the regulatory agencies that will possibly rubber-stamp this deal A-OK. I guess the only good thing that will come out of this deal going forward is I will have a list of names of officals in government whom I can just cross of permanently as paid for by the RBOCs ad inifinitum.

]]> By: shiv http://gigaom.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115544 Mon, 06 Mar 2006 15:43:36 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115544 VOIP and wireless combo’s make a lot of sense from a customer’s point of view. This might make Vonage more valuable to some of the incumbents – Verizon and possibly T-Mobile. The question is – how deep do those pockets have to be.

Is there an estimate of Vonage valuations?

]]> By: Jake http://gigaom.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115543 Mon, 06 Mar 2006 14:23:34 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115543 There are two giant entities at work in our country, and they both have an amazing influence on our daily lives . . . one has given us radar, sonar, stereo, teletype, the transistor, hearing aids, artificial larynxes, talking movies, and the telephone. The other has given us the Civil War, the Spanish American War, the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, double-digit inflation, double digit unemployment, the Great Depression, the gasoline crisis, and the Watergate fiasco. Guess which one is now trying to tell the other one how to run its business?

]]> By: Jackson West http://gigaom.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115542 Mon, 06 Mar 2006 08:44:28 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115542 Wait, how is BellSouth different from Southern Bell? Goddamn M&A consolidation can confiddlyuzzle any mofo. Wasn’t the Sherman Anti-trust Act supposed to protect us from this sort of nonsense?

]]> By: Ab http://gigaom.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115541 Mon, 06 Mar 2006 08:17:55 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115541 Om, can you offer some perspective on where this will leave Vodafone? It’s getting out of the japanese market selling its stake to Softbank.
The latest article from wsj states that verizon is trying to buy out the 45 % stake of vodafone. If vodafone does get out of verizon, is t-mobile going to be on its radar?

]]> By: Pa Bell http://gigaom.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115540 Mon, 06 Mar 2006 04:35:07 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115540 This is the worse news for innovation and the telecom sector in general. Goodbye competition and hello higher prices and poor service.

]]> By: Andy Abramson http://gigaom.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115539 Mon, 06 Mar 2006 03:04:13 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115539 AT&T beat Verizon to the punch on this one. Vodafone has to begin to figure out they need to sell their stake in Verizon Wireless, and do an out of footprint/network play somehow in the USA.

T-Mobile needs to get into the VoIP business, so maybe they buy up Vonage.

Now AT&T’s CallVantage can maybe get relaunched, Packet8 gets run out of the South like the Carpetbaggers they are.

]]> By: chy http://gigaom.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115538 Mon, 06 Mar 2006 02:30:12 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115538 barring it from entering other markets outside of telecom (1956). The government in the same time span gave us double digit inflation, double digit unemployment, the Vietnam war, the Korean War, both World Wars, and the Spanish American War. The government thought it had the right to tell AT&T how to operate its business? Let me tell you something about the Bell Monopoly: When Bell tried to lower its prices

]]> By: aswath http://gigaom.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115537 Mon, 06 Mar 2006 02:28:58 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115537 Jason:

Don’t forget T1 transmission system. I dare say that without its near error-free performance, TCP would not have functioned well. Certainly, this would have limited Internet.

]]> By: Al Wasserberger http://gigaom.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115536 Sun, 05 Mar 2006 23:55:29 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115536 Kirsten’s making some good points here, Om. I wouldn’t fall for that “little gal” stuff – Kirsten’s a smart cookie with some solid arguments.

As for me, I remember the last man we named the “King of Telecom” – wasn’t it Bernie Ebbers?

]]> By: kirsten http://gigaom.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115535 Sun, 05 Mar 2006 23:13:36 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115535 p.s. ya spelled my name wrong. it’s kirsten osolind.
p.p.s. ya know the best thing I like about you? you cut to the chase. :)

]]> By: kirsten http://gigaom.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115534 Sun, 05 Mar 2006 23:11:36 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/03/05/att-to-buy-bellsouth/#comment-115534 May I offer a little gal’s thought with great respect to you, Om?

Bellsouth and SBC have been partnering for years on projects. In my mind, the historical fission of Bell companies was merely “on the books.” Take for instance the consolidation of CABS (carrier access billing) and negotiation of billing cycle agreements with long distance carriers, resolving millions of dollars in account discrepancies. And ALECs/CLECs? BellSouth served as first-mover and mentor to SBC teams — sharing best practices and innovation. Whoever believes Ackerman and Whitacre don’t have accelerating innovation on their minds has seriously been quaffing ale with gusto. They practically consider themselves family members.

Ackerman too has been calling for a change in policy for years –because telecom regulation constrained innovation in the marketplace, made it difficult for Bell companies to invest in new technologies (particularly in rural areas), and slowed the delivery of new services to all customers.

kindly,
kirsten

]]>