Cingular Name To Be Dropped In Favor of AT&T For Wireless Brand

UPDATED below: Wow…first you spend millions and millions of dollars trying to rebrand AT&T Wireless stores to Cingular. And now, since your parent company SBC is re-branding to AT&T, you’ll drop the Cingular name in favor of AT&T. What a huge waste…now only if they used some of that money to give some rebates and cuts to customers.
Ed Whitacre, the chairman and CEO of th combined company SBC-AT&T (now just called AT&T), confirmed to USA Today that AT&T might still use the Cingular name in some markets. But the overall plan, he said, is to use the AT&T name to market all the company’s products — local, long-distance, wireless, data and video.
He conceded that the move could strain AT&T’s relationship with BellSouth. The two carriers have worked to promote Cingular as a national brand. But for now at least, BellSouth isn’t resisting.
Updated: AP: No time frame or details have been set for the plan, which is permitted under the joint venture agreement with BellSouth, but could generate friction between the partners when it comes to decisions such as allocating Cingular’s financial resources for marketing. AT&T declined to say whether the AT&T Wireless brand might be marketed broadly or to a specific customer segment.
BellSouth and Cingular appeared to be caught off guard by the remarks, but downplayed the significance. They stressed that every new customer would generate revenue for the joint venture regardless of whether it is under the Cingular or AT&T brand.

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