SBC/AT&T Expert Commentary (Part 7)

Greg Galitzine : Greg Galitzine's VoIP Authority Blog
Greg Galitzine

SBC/AT&T Expert Commentary (Part 7)

Barbara A. Grothe is the owner of Telecom Resources in Indianapolis, IN. Here are her thoughts on the SBC/AT&T deal:

SBC & AT&T BACK TOGETHER AGAIN?

Who would have dreamed up that in 1984 when AT&T settled a Justice Department lawsuit by agreeing to spin off the Regional Bell companies, i.e. Nynex, Bell Atlantic, US West, Pac Tel, Bell South, and SBC, etc. that the smallest of those -- SBC -- would buy back the parent company AT&T for 16 billion dollars. Never say never.

The clients that I serve are about 60-40. 60% of my client base has stayed loyal and true to both SBC and AT&T over the past 21 years. About 40% of my clients have jumped ship and went with the competition, i.e., Time Warner Communications, McLeod USA, etc.

I think the loyal customers will be happy to see SBC and AT&T back together again. If you think about it, they were together for over 100 years and things worked great. Now they will be together again, it makes 21 years apart not seem so bad.

The plus side to this, is the customer has now enjoyed for the past 21 years, more choices, and lower prices. A long distance call in 1984 was about .45 cents per minute. I reviewed an SBC long distance bill yesterday for a client, and the rate was .03 cents per minute. Who says the two companies parting ways was not good for the consumer?



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