Southwestern Bell
- For information on the holding company Southwestern Bell Corporation, later SBC Communications, Inc., and now AT&T Inc., see AT&T.
| File:AT&T logo (horizontal).svg | |
| Company type | Private (Subsidiary of AT&T) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 1920 |
| Headquarters | Dallas, Texas, USA |
Key people | Jose Guiterrez, President |
| Products | Local Telephone Service |
| Parent | AT&T (1920-1983) SBC/AT&T (1984-present) |
| Website | http://www.att.com/ |
Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P. is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T founded in 1920 as Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. It does business as AT&T Southwest and other d/b/a ("doing business as") names in five states. (For a full list of its d/b/a names, see "Branding" below.)
The company is currently headquartered in Dallas, Texas at One AT&T Plaza.
Overview
Southwestern Bell Telephone Company
Southwestern Bell Telephone Company was officially founded in 1920 to take over the telephone operations of Southwestern Telegraph & Telephone Co. and the Bell Telephone Company of Missouri, among others. While part of the Bell System, it was at times the biggest Bell Operating Company of the 22 AT&T owned.
The company was often considered the first step of the AT&T corporate "ladder" before the 1984 breakup of that company. Afterwards, AT&T was allowed to keep its directory publishing operations, commonly known as "SWBYP'S" (Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages, pronounced swah-bips).
At this time Southwestern Bell also began licensing its name to Conair Corporation, creating the Southwestern Bell Freedom Phone. Conair continues to produce this line of telephones.[1]
Changes
Southwestern Bell Corporation
For current information on SBC, see AT&T.
Following the breakup of AT&T, Southwestern Bell Telephone Company was managed by Southwestern Bell Corporation, which was ironically the smallest of all of the seven "Baby Bells", as it only held one telephone company. Both the holding company, SBC, and Southwestern Bell Telephone itself were often referred to as "Southwestern Bell". In 1995, however, SBC decided to change its corporate name to SBC Communications, Inc. (now AT&T) in order to make itself a national telecommunications company — a move facilitated by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. SBC acquired the Pacific Telesis Group in 1997, Southern New England Telecommunications in 1998, and Ameritech in 1999.
Branding
After completion of the acquisitions, in 1999, SBC began to attach its corporate name to the names of the Bell Operating Companies it owned. The first change was Southwestern Bell, with the Bell logo being followed by a divider line with "SBC Global Network" enclosed in a circle with the Pacific Telesis "access" mark. (Prior to this, Southwestern Bell was never advertised in conjunction with its holding company, as the other Baby Bells had done with their Bell Operating Companies after 1984.) In 2000, the Bell logo was dropped from the mark of Southwestern Bell. In 2001, SBC decided to drop the old font of Southwestern Bell and "SBC Global Network" altogether, and place the SBC corporate logo in front of the name "Southwestern Bell", with the name beginning under the "C" of SBC. (See also "Logos" below.) Finally, in 2002, SBC dropped the names of all its operating companies, simply resulting in "SBC" as a national brand.
Through these changes Southwestern Bell Telephone continued to do business as Southwestern Bell. In January 2003, however, SBC began to change its d/b/a names, resulting in Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P. being conjoined with the titles:
- d/b/a SBC Arkansas
- d/b/a SBC Kansas
- d/b/a SBC Missouri
- d/b/a SBC Oklahoma
- d/b/a SBC Texas
SBC then created SBC Southwest as a collective d/b/a name for all of the former Southwestern Bell Telephone operations.
SBC Communications merged with AT&T Corp. on November 18, 2005, and changed its name to AT&T Inc. Shortly afterwards, on January 15, 2006, AT&T companies were given new d/b/a names. As a result, Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P. is now joined with the titles:
- d/b/a AT&T Arkansas
- d/b/a AT&T Kansas
- d/b/a AT&T Missouri
- d/b/a AT&T Oklahoma
- d/b/a AT&T Texas
The collective d/b/a name is now AT&T Southwest.
Even though Southwestern Bell Telephone does business as what may appear as five different companies, it was not split into five companies. The five AT&T "state" names for Southwestern Bell are used in reference to the operations in each state, as were the SBC names that preceded them; "AT&T Southwest" (or "SBC Southwest") means the company as a whole.
At one time, SBC had organized Southwestern Bell Texas, Inc. as a nominally separate operating company for Texas; however, it was merged into Southwestern Bell Telephone Company as part of its conversion to a limited partnership in 2001.[2] Even when it was separate on paper, Southwestern Bell Texas continued to operate merely as the Texas division of Southwestern Bell Telephone.
Headquarters
Before relocating to San Antonio, Southwestern Bell Telephone was headquartered at One Bell Center (now One AT&T Center, also the former SBC headquarters) in St. Louis, Missouri, where AT&T Yellow Pages is still headquartered.
References
Logos
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Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. In 1920, Southwestern Bell Telephone is formed, and it receives its own Bell logo. The logo contains "Southwestern Bell Telephone Co.", along with the standard "American Telephone & Telegraph Co." This particular logo is used until 1939. |
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In 1939, AT&T introduces a sharper, cleaner logo for its companies. |
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Southwestern Bell In 1964, AT&T simplifies its corporate branding, resulting in a simplified Bell System logo, absent of "American Telephone & Telegraph Co." or "Southwestern Bell Telephone Co." in the surrounding circle. |
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In 1969, AT&T revamped its corporate identity, resulting in a simplified Bell logo, absent of "Bell System". In 1995, SBC merges its telephone equipment and telephone service divisions, forming Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P. This logo will remain with SWBT until 2000. |
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SBC Global Network In 1999, SBC Communications, Inc. has completed its acquisition of Ameritech. SBC begins adding "SBC Global Network" to the names of its companies in preparation for unifying its corporate image. The Bell logo is dropped in 2000. |
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SBC Southwestern Bell In 2001, SBC overhauls the identities of its operating companies by adding the "SBC" corporate logo to the operating company logos, and advertising SWBT as "SBC Southwestern Bell". |
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SBC Southwest SBC eventually drops the names of all of its Bells in late 2002, and adds the title "d/b/a SBC (name of state or region)" to the official names of its companies on January 1, 2003. Southwestern Bell's d/b/a name becomes "SBC Southwest", and does business in states as "SBC Arkansas", "SBC Kansas", "SBC Missouri", "SBC Oklahoma", and "SBC Texas". SBC, later AT&T, retains the "SBC (operating company)" on cards on its payphones, in order to better separate its operating regions. |
| AT&T logo | AT&T Southwest In 2005,SBC completed its acquisition of AT&T Corp., forming AT&T, Inc. AT&T changes the d/b/a names of its Bell Operating Companies on January 1, 2006, resulting in "AT&T Southwest" and "AT&T Kansas", "AT&T Arkansas", "AT&T Missouri", "AT&T Oklahoma", and "AT&T Texas". |
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