Cingular Is Nearing Approval For Purchase of AT&T Wireless

A Cingular spokesman declined to comment except to say the company expects the deal to close by the end of the year. An AT&T Wireless spokesman declined to comment. Cingular, jointly owned by BellSouth Corp. and SBC Communications Inc., would have more than 46 million customers and extend its ce...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Wall Street journal Asia
Main Author Anne Marie Squeo and John R. Wilke
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Victoria, Hong Kong Dow Jones & Company Inc 06.10.2004
Subjects
Acquisitions & mergers
Federal regulation
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Summary:A Cingular spokesman declined to comment except to say the company expects the deal to close by the end of the year. An AT&T Wireless spokesman declined to comment. Cingular, jointly owned by BellSouth Corp. and SBC Communications Inc., would have more than 46 million customers and extend its cellular coverage to 97 of the U.S.'s top 100 markets if the acquisition is completed. Even with some divestitures, "I don't know how you repair the problem when it's so pervasive," said Mark Cooper, research director for Consumers Union, a nonprofit advocacy group. "In at least a dozen markets, AT&T is the No. 2 supplier" after BellSouth or SBC, he said. "That gives them huge market share if they let this merger go forward."
ISSN:0377-9920