AT&T buries Cingular

San Antonio (TX) - AT&T today announced that it will be folding the name "Cingular" into its own AT&T "iconic" brand starting January 15.

If you have lost track of who is who in the telecommunications industry, Cingular was established about six years ago as a joint-venture between SBC (which acquired AT&T and changed its name to AT&T in 2006) and ten other companies, including Southwestern Bell Wireless, Pacific Bell Wireless, Nevada Bell Wireless, Ameritech Cellular, SNET Wireless, SBC Wireless, BellSouth Mobility, BellSouth Mobility DCS, BellSouth Wireless Data, certain portions of Cellular One and Houston Cellular.

As part of the re-branding initiative, about 2000 nationwide company-owned wireless retail outlets and store kiosks will be transitioned over the coming year with AT&T-branded signage. Additionally, the approximately 15,000 personnel in these stores and kiosks will begin wearing AT&T-branded apparel in the coming months.

Cingular customers will also begin hearing the AT&T name mentioned on Cingular voice greetings in the coming weeks. Merger-transition messages will be placed on envelopes with customer billing starting in the coming weeks, and communications and the AT&T logo will begin to appear on customer bills starting in the coming months, the firm said.