In AT&T/BellSouth deal, what happens to Cingular?

The $67 billion planned merger between AT&T and BellSouth will create the largest telecommunications carrier in the U.S. It will not only bring together BellSouth’s local properties in 9 states with AT&T’s national and local properties from across the country, but it brings Cingular Wireless under AT&T’s full control and will mean the death of the Cingular brand name.

The $67 billion planned merger between AT&T and BellSouth will create the largest telecommunications carrier in the U.S. It will not only bring together BellSouth’s local properties in 9 states with AT&T’s national and local properties from across the country, but it also will bring Cingular Wireless under AT&T’s full control and will mean the death of the Cingular brand name.

Good, bad or indifferent? Discuss the AT&T/BellSouth dealDeal will make little difference because there’s no local competition.

Bradner:

Cingular Wireless is a joint venture, 60% owned by AT&T and 40% owned by BellSouth. Bringing the wireless provider under AT&T’s umbrella could accelerate the carrier’s deployment of wireless services specifically for business users and allow AT&T to more quickly achieve fixed/mobile convergence, according to a research document issued by analyst firm Gartner this week.

In January when “the new AT&T” held its first financial analyst meeting in New York since AT&T was acquired by SBC, executives talked about how AT&T was developing its own wireless services for business customers that would ride over the Cingular network.

If the deal closes, all wireless services will run over AT&T’s own network, rather than its joint venture’s.

Gartner warns users that they should be aware that “AT&T may lose delivery focus as it tries to integrate all these companies.” The consulting firm recommends users renegotiate their contracts for better volume discounts based on their total spending with Cingular Wireless, BellSouth and AT&T.

As AT&T is setting the cement on its wireless future, many question what Verizon Wireless is up to.

Like Cingular, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture between two companies – in this case, Verizon Corp. and international telecommunications giant Vodafone. There have been rumors for quite some time that Verizon Corp. was looking to buy out Vodafone. Some financial analysts and shareholders had even hoped Vodafone would sell its stake in the wireless service provider.

But now that the heat is on, Verizon may be more motivated to buy out its partner across the pond. Some print reports even speculate that Verizon might be looking to snap up other wireless properties such as Alltel, the fifth largest wireless service provider.

Alltel, like Verizon Wireless, primarily operates a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network. It also has some GSM properties, which it acquired when it bought Western Wireless.

But so far, Verizon isn’t making any moves, publicly anyway.