AT&T brand reportedly will survive

SBC Communications has reportedly decided to use AT&T as the brand name for the post-merger entity, according to USA Today.

The choice of a name has been the subject of both internal and external debate ever since SBC announced last January that it would acquire AT&T. That merger has been approved by 33 of the 36 state regulatory commissions involved and will be debated by the Federal Communications Commission on Oct. 28.

Global rivals had been hoping that the ‘SBC’ moniker would survive, according to a high-ranking official at one European-based service provider, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“Very few people in Europe or Asia know of SBC, but everyone knows AT&T,” he said. “It would be a great advantage for us if they use SBC.”

“While you could make arguments for either name, it is clearly AT&T that has the history behind it,” said telecom analyst Jeffrey Kagan, in an email posting. “AT&T has been in business for more than 100 years. It is the name of the first national phone company. It is the oldest and most historic name in the business. So while SBC is the name of the acquiring company, it makes sense they would choose to continue the AT&T name. Many of us industry watchers thought it would have been sad to see the AT&T name fade away.”

Meanwhile, competitors in the U.S. are still hoping that the FCC will impose some conditions before approving the merger, such as requiring divestiture of AT&T’s local access lines in areas where the two companies have both operated facilities.