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AT&T Mobility
Type Private (Subsidiary of AT&T)
Founded 2000
Headquarters Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Key people Stanley T. Sigman – President
Thaddeus Arroyo – CIO
Industry Wireless Services
Products HSDPA, UMTS, W-CDMA, EDGE, GPRS, GSM, TDMA, AMPS, Wireless Data
Services (MEdia Net), Two way messaging, Push to Talk
Revenue $37.5 billion (2006) USD[1]
Employees 70,300 (2006)
Owner AT&T
Slogan Your world is wireless. AT&T is wireless.
Website wireless.att.com
AT&T Mobility LLC (usually branded "AT&T,"[2] and formerly named Cingular
Wireless LLC) is the wholly owned wireless subsidiary of AT&T Inc. AT&T
Mobility is the largest mobile phone company in the United States including
Puerto Rico. AT&T Mobility has 62 million subscribers as of 2007, and
operates the largest digital voice and data network in the United States.[3]
Formerly a joint venture between SBC Communications and BellSouth, Cingular
Wireless soon acquired the old AT&T Wireless; SBC later acquired the
original AT&T and rebranded as "the new AT&T". Cingular became wholly-owned
by the new AT&T in December 2006 as a result of AT&T's acquisition of
BellSouth.
The service is now branded as Wireless from AT&T or sometimes simply AT&T.
Renaming on a corporate level occurred immediately, and consumer branding
changed to "AT&T," or a variant thereof. Until all regulatory filings are
approved, however, and public awareness is fostered, the "Cingular" brand
will continue to be used in store signage and media advertisements during a
dual-branded transition, expected to last several months. This process began
January 15, 2007.[4]
Among the services that AT&T aggressively promotes is its "Rollover"
service, allowing customers to keep unused minutes from month to month on a
twelve-month rolling cycle on its popular "Nation" nationwide plans.
Beginning in July 2007, AT&T Mobility now allows its AT&T Unity plan users
to have "Rollover", a service which was exclusive to the "Nation" plans.
History
Cingular Wireless LLC was founded in 2001 as a joint venture of SBC
Communications (now AT&T, Inc.), and BellSouth (which AT&T Inc. acquired in
2006). The joint venture created the nation's second largest carrier.
Cingular grew out of a conglomeration of 12 regional companies with Bell
roots. The 12 companies included:
* Ameritech Mobile Communications, LLC*
* BellSouth Mobility, LLC*
* BellSouth Mobility DCS, Inc.
* BellSouth Wireless Data, LLC
* Pacific Bell Wireless, LLC
* Pacific Bell Wireless Northwest, LLC
* SBC Wireless, LLC
* SNET Mobility, LLC
* Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems, Inc.*
* Southwestern Bell Wireless, Inc.
Also included were some Cellular One markets, and Houston Cellular.
Cingular's lineage can be traced back to Advanced Mobile Phone Service, Inc.
(companies spun off from this denoted with a *), which was a subsidiary of
AT&T created in 1978 to provide cellular service nationwide. AMPS, Inc. was
divided among the RBOCs as part of the Bell System Divestiture.
With the exception of Pacific Bell and BellSouth Mobility DCS, the digital
network consisted of D-AMPS technology. The Pacific Bell and BellSouth
Mobility DCS networks used GSM technology on the PCS frequency band (1900
MHz).
AT&T Wireless merger
After a bidding war with Britain's Vodafone PLC, Cingular announced in
February 2004 that it would purchase AT&T Wireless Services, Inc., for $41
billion. This was more than twice the company's recent trading value. Some
analysts have said that although Vodafone was unsuccessful in acquiring AT&T
Wireless, it was nonetheless successful in forcing Cingular to overpay for
the acquisition.
The merger was completed on October 26, 2004. The combined company had a
customer base of 46 million people at the time, making Cingular the largest
wireless provider in the United States. AT&T Wireless was then legally
renamed New Cingular Wireless Services, Inc. [1] Shortly after new
commercials were shown a with the "AT&T" transforming into the Cingular
logo, and with the Cingular logo's text turned blue to acknowledge the
change.
First announced on June 22, 2005 Cingular Wireless announced the intention
to divest its Caribbean and Bermuda operations and licenses which it
acquired from the acquisition of AT&T Wireless, to Irish-owned and
Jamaica-based Digicel Group under undisclosed financial terms.[5][6][7][8]
In 2006, one year following the deal, a high ranking source allegedly close
to the sale pointed the Barbados Daily Nation Newspaper towards some SEC
filings made by Cingular which were said to establish an idea of the
approximate sale price of the deal. According to the SEC filings Cingular
was paid around US$122 million, with much of that $122m cost to Digicel
going towards the purchasing of the former AT&T Wireless assets in Barbados.
Acquisition of Dobson Communications
AT&T announced they have purchased Dobson Communications, which operates the
Cellular One network in most regions. AT&T will buy Dobson for $13 per
share, as well as assuming the regional carrier's debt, which will cost the
nation's largest carrier about $5.1 billion total. The purchase will allow
AT&T to operate in the more rural areas of the United States including
Alaska, & West Virginia.
GSM Facilities
In California, Nevada, Northern New Jersey and New York City, Cingular and
T-Mobile USA maintained and shared a GSM-1900 network prior to the
acquisition of AT&T Wireless, through a joint venture known as GSM
Facilities. The network sharing agreement allowed Cingular to offer local
service in northern New Jersey and New York City and T-Mobile to offer
service in California and Nevada. On May 25, 2004, Cingular and T-Mobile USA
announced their intention to dissolve the agreement contingent on Cingular's
successful acquisition of AT&T Wireless, the Cingular network was
transferred to T-Mobile, with Cingular continuing work on the GSM facilities
at AT&T Wireless sites. [2]
Cingular's wireless network
Cingular was formed through mergers and acquisitions, and as a result of
these — as well as the rapid technological change in the wireless industry —
Cingular operates wireless networks using many different wireless
communication standards. The most widely used of these technologies is
called Global System for Mobile Communications, or GSM. On top of its GSM
network, Cingular operates a data network called GPRS (General Packet Radio
Service) and an upgrade for faster speeds called EDGE (Enhanced Data rates
for GSM Evolution). AT&T offers Push to talk (PTT) service using network
technology from Kodiak Networks.
Cingular supports legacy D-AMPS/TDMA, and analog networks; however, in March
2006 they announced that these networks would be shut down by February 2008.
As part of this effort, Cingular will charge a $4.99 monthly fee to those
customers who still use D-AMPS-based phones. As of March 31, 2007 Cingular
no longer supported the TDMA technology for its GoPhone (pre-paid)
customers. All GoPhone customers had to migrate to the newer GSM technology.
Former networks also include various paging services and the Cingular
Interactive division, which became Velocita Wireless which was purchased by
Sprint Nextel.[9]
In 2002, Cingular began an initiative called "Project Genesis" that involved
a GSM/GPRS overlay of the entire wireless network. Project Genesis was
completed by the end of 2004.
Cingular has launched a high-speed network known as "BroadbandConnect,"
based on UMTS and High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), to counter
Verizon Wireless and Sprint's EV-DO networks. UMTS service was launched on
December 6, 2005 in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, San
Jose, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Puerto Rico, Austin, Houston, Dallas,
Detroit, Chicago, Boston, Baltimore and Washington D.C. Cingular expected to
launch UMTS in all major metropolitan markets by the end of 2006, as of June
15th 2007, the service is available across much of the United States.
On June 29, 2007 AT&T announced that it would acquire Dobson Communications
for about $2.8 billion in cash. Dobson currently markets the Cellular One
brand in rural and suburban locations in various areas of the United States,
including Alaska. Dobson has been an AT&T roaming partner since 1990, and
the acquisition is expected to bring growth to Dobson's current markets. The
acquisition is under regulatory approval and is expected to complete by year
end 2007.[10]
"Cingular is now The new AT&T"
On November 20, 2005, Ed Whitacre, then CEO of the newly merged SBC/AT&T,
announced plans to market Cingular's service under the AT&T brand. BellSouth
spokesman Jeff Battcher countered that the terms of the joint venture allow
either party to sell the service under another name, and that he believes
they will be using the brand to market to business customers.[11] Cingular
president Stan Sigman concurred with BellSouth's position, indicating that
the Cingular brand would continue but be sold under the AT&T brand where
offered in packages with other AT&T services, such as data and wireline
telephony.
However, AT&T, Inc. announced on March 5, 2006[12] that it would acquire
BellSouth. The acquisition was finalized on December 29, 2006 when the FCC
gave its final approval. According to AT&T, the company will begin the
rebranding of Cingular Wireless to "AT&T". [13]
Cingular Wireless/AT&T transition logo, Jan 2007 - May 2007
Cingular Wireless/AT&T transition logo,
Jan 2007 - May 2007
On January 12, 2007 AT&T announced[14] a major rebranding transition
campaign to transition Cingular to the new AT&T. The current Cingular
stores, once rebranded to AT&T, will sell all AT&T products and services:
wireless, landline, Internet, U-Verse, and more. AT&T will have all services
under one brand. There will be no "AT&T Mobile" nor a rebirth of AT&T
Wireless as many have speculated. This might lead to confusion by customers
because of the fact that there would be no name difference between AT&T's
landline and wireless services. The transition is reflected in this
timeline:
* On January 14, 2007 AT&T launched the transition of the Cingular brand to
AT&T in television advertising and customer communications, by creating the
"Cingular is now The New AT&T" logo.
* On April 15, 2007, AT&T Mobility began to introduce new AT&T branded
mobile phones and devices. The alpha tag (portion of phone's screen which
displays the name of the network on which the phone is connected) on new
phone activations will also start being "AT&T". Phones which currently
display Cingular as the alpha tag will also begin to transition to "AT&T", a
process expected to be completed over the next six months.
* Around May 11, 2007, Cingular's name was replaced with "AT&T" in most
advertisements. Some newspaper ads however still show "formerly Cingular
Wireless".
* On May 24, 2007, Palm, Inc. issued an update for Cingular-branded Treo 680
smartphones that, among other things, updates the phone's branding (startup
and shutdown screens, wallpaper backgrounds) from Cingular to AT&T.[15]
* As of May 31, 2007, the former cingular.com website redirects to
wireless.att.com and no longer features any Cingular logos whatsoever.
* As of June 1, 2007, customer service phone lines are now answered "Thank
you for calling AT&T about your wireless service." Additionally, all new SIM
cards are branded with the AT&T logo.
* As of June 16, 2007, most of the phones on the company's network now
display AT&T as the carrier instead of Cingular.
Business services
AT&T Mobility is known for its enterprise services, offered through its
Business Markets Group, a subsidiary company of the joint venture. It
acquired a considerable stable of business clients through the acquisition
of AT&T Wireless in 2004, and boasts that it currently serves over 90
percent of the Fortune 100 and over 80 percent of the Fortune 500. AT&T
Mobility is also the largest provider of BlackBerry service in North
America.
Marketing
Fewest dropped calls
During the first quarter of 2006, Telephia reported that during an extensive
nationwide test of major wireless carriers in 350 metropolitan markets
around the country, Cingular dropped the fewest number of calls across the
country. Cingular in turn began aggressively advertising the "Allover
Network," citing Telephia as "the leading independent research company."
Telephia's report was in stark contrast to the Consumers Union publication,
Consumer Reports, based on a survey of 50,000 of its members in 18 cities,
which criticized Cingular for static and dropped calls.[16] Furthermore,
J.D. Power and Associates consistently ranked Cingular at or near the bottom
of every geographical region in its 2006 Wireless Call Quality Study, which
is based on a smaller survey of 23,000 wireless users.
Telephia, which tests wireless networks by making over 6 million calls per
year in what it claims is the world's largest wireless network test program,
initially refused to provide details on its study, and a spokesman for the
company has said, according to the Boston Globe, that "Cingular shouldn't
have even mentioned the company's name to a reporter."[17] The research
company later stated that Cingular did indeed have a
"statistically-significant lower dropped-call rate than the competition
across some market/time period groupings," but that Telephia had "no
knowledge of the specific methodology (markets, time periods or statistical
thresholds) that Cingular used for its 'lowest dropped call' claim."[18]
TV Commercial
The British Rock Band Oasis song All Around the World is used for the "The
New AT&T" TV Commercial aired in the United States.
iPhone
On June 29, 2007 the Apple iPhone was introduced to the U.S. market. Apple
has commented the iPhone will be exclusive to AT&T until at least 2009 and
possibly until 2012. AT&T and Apple have announced that the iPhone will not
be available in Puerto Rico, and that they don't have a planned launch date
for that primary American market. Many consumers in the U.S. are complaining
because they live in a non-AT&T market and do not have the option to buy the
iPhone.[19]
Controversies
* On June 20, 2006 the California Court of Appeals voted 3-0 to uphold a
decision by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to fine
Cingular $12 million.[20] The CPUC found the Cingular Wireless policy form
of charging customers an early termination fee to cancel their wireless
service without a grace period to be an unjust and unreasonable business
practice. The CPUC also found that Cingular failed to tell new customers
about known network problems and misled customers about the network's
service and coverage.[21] The case originated in San Diego when the
non-profit Utility Consumers' Action Network (UCAN) brought customer
complaints against Cingular to the attention of the CPUC.[22]
* In June 2006 tech website Engadget's mobile section posted a road map of
upcoming Cingular products, this led to Cingular temporarily banning the
word 'engadget' and links pointing to engadget on their customer forums.
* In Q1 2006, Cingular Wireless, LLC reported in its first-quarter financial
statement that regulatory complaints (complaints to the FCC, Better Business
Bureaus and other regulatory or semiregulatory bodies) were reduced over 56%
compared to the same quarter one year prior.
* On August 25, 2005, Cingular was removed from the New York Better Business
Bureau because of a large number of complaints that were not handled in a
timely manner. The company is in the process of restructuring its customer
care procedures and has appealed the decision. It remains a member of the
BBB in other states in which it operates.
* On July 20, 2005, the Utility Consumers' Action Network (UCAN), a
non-profit California consumer advocacy organization, filed a complaint with
the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) against Cingular Wireless
for the unauthorized billing of non-communications related charges.[23] UCAN
claimed that Cingular billed its customers for Jamster! and other similar
ring tone services without providing customers with the notice, opt-in, and
proof of authorization requirements necessary for such charges.[24] UCAN
further charged Cingular with violating numerous CPUC requirements by
consistently telling customers with questions about non-communications
service charges on their wireless phone bill that Cingular has no
responsibility and cannot assist customers with their inquiries.[25] UCAN
and Cingular reached a settlement on October 19, 2006, which resulted in
stronger notification and authorization requirements for Cingular regarding
non-communications charges and also required Cingular to institute a ready
means to address billing issues and cancel wireless content services.[26]
* In 2004, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reported logging more
than 14,000 complaints (or 289 per million subscribers) against Cingular,
the most common of which included number portability issues, over-billing,
poor customer support and network reliability.
* In 2005, Communications Workers of America, the union which represents
over half of the then AT&T's employees, specifically recognized AT&T for
excellence as a union employer, in direct contrast to competitor Verizon,
which CWA singled out as an aggressive union-buster.[27]
NASCAR lawsuits
Cingular has been the sponsor of the #31 Chevrolet driven by Jeff Burton in
the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup series since before 2004, when NEXTEL purchased the
naming rights to NASCAR's top division. Cingular and Alltel (who sponsors
Ryan Newman's #12 Dodge) were allowed to stay as sponsors. NASCAR claims
that the clause in their contract with Sprint Nextel does not allow Cingular
and Alltel to change either the name or brand advertised (though Alltel has
advertised its My Circle plan on the #12) or the teams they sponsor.
However, it should be noted that the "new" AT&T is the "old" SBC
Communications which had been the majority owner of the Cingular Wireless
LLC, and was the firm that signed the contract with NASCAR before the
grandfather clause took effect. Furthermore, in 2005, Alltel had changed its
corporate logo, and the licencing agreement and grandfather clause between
Penske and NASCAR did not prohibit the change in logos, as the new logo was
promptly put on the Penske #12 when the Alltel corporate logo changed.
AT&T has repeatedly requested that NASCAR allow them to advertise the AT&T
brand on the #31 car, but NASCAR refuses to allow it, citing the Sprint
Nextel contract. After trying and failing to get NASCAR to approve the
addition of the globe logo to the rear of the car, AT&T filed a lawsuit
against NASCAR on March 16, 2007. On May 18, a federal judge ruled that AT&T
should be allowed to replace the Cingular logos with AT&T logos, and said
that AT&T was likely to win the lawsuit. The #31 first ran with the new AT&T
logo at the 2007 All-Star Challenge.
On June 17, 2007 NASCAR announced it had filed a $100 million dollar lawsuit
against AT&T and would like AT&T and all other telecommunications companies
out of the sport in 2008. [3]
The next hearing is slated on August 2. [28]
Competitors
AT&T is the top carrier based on United States customer totals. Its
competitors are (in order of United States customer totals):
* Verizon Wireless
* Sprint Nextel
* T-Mobile
* Alltel
* U.S. Cellular
* SunCom
References
1. ^ http://www.att.com/Investor/Financial/Earning_Info/docs/4Q_06_Cingular_Earnings.xls
AT&T Mobility LLC (formerly Cingular Wireless LLC) Income Statement
2. ^ Some ads use the phrase "wireless from AT&T" to eliminate ambiguity
with other AT&T divisions.
3. ^ "About us" at wireless.att.com
4. ^ "Cingular is now the new AT&T." AT&T Press Release. January 12, 2007.
5. ^ Caribbean Net News "Digicel to acquire Cingular's Caribbean wireless
operations", June 23, 2005
6. ^ Caribbean Net News "Cingular denies leaving Caribbean because of losses
or poor performance", June 23, 2005
7. ^ Caribbean Net News "Digicel awaits regulatory approval from Caribbean
territories", June
8. ^ Caribbean Net News "Digicel officially takes over Cingular in
Barbados", December 21, 2005
9. ^ Sprint press release
10. ^ http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=24030
11. ^ Redherring.com
12. ^ AT&T Press Release
13. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/business/30tele.html New York Times
Article on Approved BellSouth merger
14. ^ AT&T Prepares to ‘De-Brand’ the Cingular Wireless Name
15. ^ http://www.palm.com/us/support/downloads/treo680update/att.html
16. ^ "Best cell service", Consumer Reports, Consumers Union of U.S., Jan
2007. Retrieved on March 13, 2007.
17. ^ Mohl, Bruce. "The fewest dropped calls", Boston Globe, The New York
Times Company, 23 April 2006.
18. ^ Belson, Ken. "Best Cellphone Company? All of Them, to Hear Them Say
It", New York Times, The New York Times Company, May.
19. ^ http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/iphone-frenzy-not-an-option-for-some/n20070629193909990004
20. ^ California Court of Appeals, Pacific Bell Wireless, LLC v. Public
Utilities Commission of California June,Retrieved March 14, 2007
21. ^ Public Utilities Commission of California, Opinion Ordering Penalties
and Reparations-Investigation September 23, 2004Retrieved March 14, 2007
22. ^ Public Utilities Commission of California, Opening Brief of Utility
Consumers Action Network-Investigation May 23, 2003Retrieved March 14, 2007
23. ^ Sprint and Cingular Named in Complaints, The New York Times July 21,
2005 Retrieved March 16, 2007
24. ^ Utility Consumers' Action Network v. Cingular Wireless-Complaint and
Request for Cease and Desist Order, California Public Utilities Commission
July 20, 2005 Retrieved March 16, 2007
25. ^ Ibid
26. ^ Utility Consumers' Action Network v. Cingular Wireless-Opinion
Approving Settlement, California Public Utilities Commission October 19,
2006 Retrieved March 16, 2007
27. ^ http://www.taleof2companies.com/
28. ^ http://www.scenedaily.com/stories/2007/05/21/scene_daily660.html
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