Newly United AT&T to Refocus on Wireless

Press Release - 7:00 am on January 5, 2007

U.S. telecom giant, AT&T Inc., is hoping to begin promoting a new selection of highly competitive wireless services now that its merger with BellSouth is complete, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week.

The $86 billion acquisition, which was closed late last week after obtaining approval from the FCC, makes AT&T the sold owner of Cingular Wireless, which has been run as a joint venture with BellSouth for the past several years.

“The biggest asset we bought here was Cingular,” commented AT&T’s chairman and CEO, Edward Whitacre. “We’re about to become a company with wireless at its heart.”

The company is reportedly planning to begin selling its mobile phone services under its own brand name (as opposed to Cingular), and offer a variety of competitive new services that would have been impossible when the wireless division was structured as a joint venture.

Cingular/AT&T customers will soon have the option of bundling fixed-line DSL with wireless service, eliminating the need to sign-up for the traditional package of broadband together with a landline phone.

The telecom giant is also testing some new handsets capable of running on home Wi-Fi networks, which would allow for lower bills and better reception for customers that frequently use their cell phones from home.

These innovative new offerings will likely be funded in part by AT&T’s forthcoming advertising services, which Whitacre spoke about in the same WSJ interview.