AT&T to purchase BellSouth
AT&T, which recently completed a merger with SBC Communications, announced Monday a $67 billion deal to purchase BellSouth, in an all-stock transaction.
The merger, which is expected to face stiff scrutiny from federal regulators, would also combine Cingular Wireless under the control of a single company. At this time AT&T owns 60% of Cingular, while BellSouth owns the remaining 40%.
The merged company would have local telephone lines primarily in 22 states, wireless lines nationwide, and is currently deploying Internet-based television services.
It looks like Ma Bell is coming back together. At the end of this merger, we’ll have AT&T, Verizon, and Qwest. And the two immediate questions are: What will happen to Qwest? And will AT&T and Verizon merge themselves, or compete head-to-head?
