SBC Communications - Definition and Overview

SBC Communications (NYSE: SBC (http://www.nyse.com/about/listed/lcddata.html?ticker=SBC)) is an American telecommunications company based in San Antonio, Texas. According to Daniel Berninger, Vice President and Senior Analyst of Tier1 Research, SBC is as of Janurary, 2005 the largest telecommunications carrier in the United States of America.

The name SBC was formerly an abbreviation for Southwestern Bell Corporation. Southwestern Bell was one of the original Regional Bell operating companies, or "Baby Bells," formed after U.S. antitrust action against AT&T in 1983. AT&T had adopted the name Southwestern Bell for its local operations in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas in April 1920. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 allowed Southwestern Bell to become a national telephone provider, and it subsequently bought fellow Baby Bells Pacific Telesis and Ameritech, then bought independent Bell System franchise SNET.

In 1998, Southwestern Bell changed its name to SBC Communications. The company has stated that SBC no longer stands for anything.

In May 1998, SBC and Ameritech, the Regional Bell operating company serving Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin, announced merger plans. After making several organizational changes (such as the sale of Ameritech Wireless to GTE) to satisfy state and Federal regulators, the two merged on 1999-10-08.

SBC currently provides local telephone service in 13 states (Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Wisconsin) and long distance service to 10 million customers, and owns 60% of mobile phone provider Cingular, which in turn also owns and operates the former AT&T Wireless. (Fellow Baby Bell BellSouth owns the other 40% of Cingular.) SBC is also a large American Internet Service Provider.

On January 27 2005, The New York Times reported that SBC Communications was in talks "to buy AT&T for more than $16 billion, according to executives close to the negotiations," which SBC confirmed on January 31. [1] (http://money.cnn.com/2005/01/31/technology/sbc_att.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes)

Places named after SBC

• SBC Park
• SBC Center

See also

• Lists of public utilities

External links

• Corporate web site (http://www.sbc.com/)
• Press Release announcing FCC Approval of SBC-Ameritech merger (http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/News_Releases/1999/nrc9077a.html) (1999-10-06)