TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to in message news: snipped-for-privacy@telecom-digest.org:
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[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The *A*merican *T*elephone and *T*elegraph
> Company's recent (last decade or so) history is thus: AT&T owned
> several operating companies of which two were Bell South and Southwestern
> Bell (1982). Cingular Wireless in those days was called 'Southwestern
> Bell Mobility' and it was the 'B' carrier in the old A/B 'competitor'
> versus 'wireline' arrangement. Then Judge Greene had his hissy fit and
> bashed up AT&T. A few years later, Southwestern Bell became SBC, and
> Cingular Wireless continued to be owned by SBC/Southwestern Bell, or
> about half it it at least. The other half of it was owned by Bell South,
> and it was decided to change its name from Southwestern Bell Mobility
> to 'Cingular Wireless' in order to reflect the fact that it was not an
> exclusive Southwestern Bell property. So half of Cingular belonged to
> SBC and half of it belonged to Bell South. AT&T Wireless decided to go
> out of business, mainly because they were doing such a poor job of
> running the company, and the AT&T Wireless infrastructure was sold in
> parts: quite a bit to SBC and the rest of it to Bell South. SBC was
> busy cannibalizing other telcos, including Illinois Bell/Ameritech.
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Actually three former Bell companies had "South" in their names: Southern Bell, South Central Bell and Southwestern Bell. Those companies likely also had the ubiquitous "Telephone and Telegraph" in their names as well!
Al