SBC Communications

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This article refers to the now defunct SBC Communications, Inc. that purchased AT&T Corp. in 2005 and changed its name to AT&T Inc. For information on that new company, please see the article AT&T.

Southwestern Bell Corporation logo, 1984–1995

SBC Corporate Logo, 1997–2001

SBC Corporate Logo, 1995–1997; 2001–2005

Southwestern Bell Corporation, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, was one of the seven original Regional Bell Operating Companies, or "Baby Bells." The company — a holding company for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company — was a result of U.S. antitrust action against AT&T in 1983. AT&T had adopted the name Southwestern Bell for its local operations in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas in April 1920.

In 1993 Southwestern Bell Corp. moved its headquarters to San Antonio, Texas and, during its annual meeting of stockholders in 1995, the company announced that its name would be changed to SBC Communications, Inc. The name change was an effort to reinforce the company's national and global reach and the company not only stated that "SBC" wasn't an acronym for Southwestern Bell Corporation, but that it did not stand for anything at all.

SBC then proceeded (as permitted by the Telecommunications Act of 1996) to acquire fellow baby bell Pacific Telesis, the Regional Bell operating company serving Nevada and California, in 1997 and the former independent Bell System franchise SNET (Southern New England Telephone).

SBC then announced plans to acquire Ameritech, the Regional Bell operating company serving Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin,, and told the FCC that it would allow competitors access to local markets where it had had a monopoly if the FCC would allow them to acquire Ameritech. The FCC agreed and in May 1998, SBC and Ameritech announced the merger would move forward. After making several organizational changes (such as the sale of Ameritech Wireless to GTE) to satisfy state and Federal regulators, the two merged on October 8, 1999. The FCC later fined SBC Communications $6 million for failure to comply with agreements made in order to secure approval of the merger.

In 2002, SBC ended marketing its operating companies under different names, and simply opted give its companies different doing business as names based on the state, and it gave the holding companies it had purchased d/b/a names based on their general region. This resulted in (bolded companies indicate holding companies):

• SBC Communications, Inc.
• *SBC Southwest, internal d/b/a name for Southwestern Bell Telephone
• **SBC Arkansas
• **SBC Kansas
• **SBC Missouri
• **SBC Oklahoma
• **SBC Texas
• *SBC West, internal d/b/a name for Pacific Telesis
• **SBC California
• **SBC Nevada
• *SBC East, internal d/b/a name for Southern New England Telecommunications
• **SBC SNET
• *SBC Midwest, internal d/b/a name for SBC Teleholdings, the new name of Ameritech
• **SBC Illinois
• **SBC Indiana
• **SBC Michigan
• **SBC Ohio
• **SBC Wisconsin

The company was formerly traded on the NYSE as "SBC" until shortly after its purchase of AT&T Corp. was completed in November of 2005. The company was renamed AT&T Inc. and began trading on the NYSE under the symbol "T" on December 1, 2005.

FY 2005) | Employees: 189,950 | Stock Symbol: NYSE: [T] | Website: [www.att.com]