AT&T to replace Cingular brand Monday
It's consolidating the brand name to cut costs
January 12, 2007 12:00 PM ETIDG News Service -
The Cingular name will start to disappear on Monday, when the AT&T brand will once again describe a wireless offering in the U.S.
AT&T Inc. will launch a new advertising campaign to replace the Cingular brand with its own, the company said today. The campaign starts on Monday and will initially feature a transitional graphic that includes elements of both the AT&T and Cingular logos.
On Tuesday, Apple Inc. announced its iPhone device, with Cingular Wireless LLC as the carrier.
As a result of a series of mergers and acquisitions, the AT&T brand on a wireless service was recently killed off, only to now be revived.
AT&T Wireless was once an independent company that had been spun off from AT&T Corp. Cingular Wireless LLC bought the wireless operator and eliminated the AT&T Wireless brand. Then SBC, one of the owners of Cingular, bought AT&T, adopting the AT&T brand for its landline services. More recently, AT&T bought BellSouth Corp., the other owner of Cingular, spurring the switch back to the AT&T brand for the wireless service.
Now that AT&T is the parent company of several telecommunications brands, it is consolidating the branding under the AT&T name as a way of cutting costs. AT&T estimates that 20% of the operating expenses it expects to save through the merger with BellSouth will come from consolidating advertising.
Although well known, the AT&T brand has been tarnished a bit since Cingular's acquisition of AT&T Wireless. A class-action lawsuit claims that Cingular intentionally allowed the AT&T Wireless network to degrade as a way to encourage customers to switch to the Cingular network. Cingular then charged customers early termination fees to cancel their AT&T Wireless accounts, as well as other fees for setting up new contracts with Cingular, the suit alleges.
Throughout this year, the 2,000 Cingular stores and kiosks will get new AT&T signs. The company will use the co-branded graphic until customers become aware that Cingular is now AT&T. AT&T did not say how long that might take.
Reprinted with permission from
Story copyright 2009 International Data Group. All rights reserved.
at&T
Additional Resources



Learn the important issues you must consider before starting your next mobility initiative. Get your mobility white paper from IDC now, compliments of Sybase.
White Papers & Webcasts
Accelerating Your Mobile Workers: Controlling the Uncontrollable
Today's workforce is truly mobile. Unlike the managed environment of the office LAN, remote users face many challenges to being productive while out...
eGuide: Enterprise Security
Smart Security Strategies for 2010. Read now!
Managing Laptops Outside the Office
Learn how you can reduce costs by tracking mobile computers no matter where they are located.
How to Improve Remote User Satisfaction and Maximize ROI by Using SSL VPNs
Download this white paper today!
Mobile U Webinar
Watch Now!
The New Mobile Order
Download Now
4G Ahead Video Program
Uncover the features and benefits of the two leading 4G technologies for enterprises considering future deployment.
WAN Application Delivery for Executives
Learn how to simplify server and application administration without creating performance problems for distributed users.
Horror stories: Managing IT Across Multiple Locations
How one extra sharp IT manager eliminates daily agony, hassle and repetition.

