Cingular, AT&T Wireless close $41 billion merger

After clearing Department of Justice and FCC hurdles, Cingular Wireless and AT&T Wireless have completed their $41 billion merger, creating the nation's biggest wireless carrier in terms of subscribers.

The newly combined company, which will be known as Cingular Wireless, has more than 46 million customers, surpassing Verizon Wireless with 40.4 million customers.  It will have licenses to operate wireless service in 49 of 50 U.S. states, and will serve the top 100 U.S. metropolitan areas.

The deal's closure comes one day after the Justice Department approved the transaction, and the same day the FCC signed off on the merger. Cingular had to divest itself of wireless customers and other assets in 13 U.S. markets in order to gain Justice Department approval for the merger.

The new company also announced its leadership and organizational structure. Stan Sigman, currently president and CEO of Cingular, will continue to serve as the president and CEO of the new company.  Ralph de la Vega will continue in his current role as COO.

The company will continue to be headquartered in Atlanta.

Cingular will now start opening access to the Cingular and AT&T Wireless GSM networks, allowing customers of both companies to use the new, combined network without roaming charges. Subscribers will have the ability to make unlimited mobile-to-mobile calls to any Cingular or AT&T Wireless customer, the carrier says.

Customers will also be able to make calls on six continents and in more than 100 countries, Cingular says. In addition, General Packet Radio Service data roaming will be available in more than 50 countries for laptops, PDAs and other data devices, the carrier says.

Customers of both companies will continue to be able to use their current phones, rate plans and features, without any service interruption, Cingular says.