Telecom Reunion

In 1984, AT&T (Ma Bell) was split up into 8 Regional Bell Operating Operating Companies (RBOCs, also called Baby Bells).

In 2001, two of these Baby Bells, Southwestern Bell (by then, SBC Communications – it sounds so much nicer) and Southern Bell (by then, Bellsouth) joined forces to create Cingular Wireless – actually a federation of 11 wireless carriers (via).

Then it gets confusing. In 2004, Cingular purchased the AT&T Wireless brand for a measly $41 billion, creating the largest wireless phone provider in the US. Then in 2005, SBC acquired whatever was left of AT&T for another $16 billion. Yesterday, the rebranded company, now once again called AT&T, announced its intention to acquire Bellsouth.

In other words, roughly twenty years and well over $120 billion dollars later, 1/4 of the original AT&T is, well, AT&T. Got it? Good.