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- For information on the holding company Southwestern Bell Corporation, later SBC Communications, Inc., see SBC Communications. For current information on that company, see AT&T.
Southwestern Bell Telephone Company was the d/b/a name of Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P.. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of AT&T and does business as AT&T Southwest.
Southwestern Bell Telephone is currently headquarted in San Antonio, TX.
Overview
Southwestern Bell was officially founded in 1920 to take over the telephone operations of Southwestern Telegraph & Telephone Co., The Bell Telephone Company of Missouri, among others. In its time as 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. After the 1984 breakup of AT&T, it was allowed to keep its directory publishing operations, commonly known as "SWBYP'S" (Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages).
Shortly after the 1984 AT&T breakup, Southwestern Bell began licensing its name to Conair, creating Southwestern Bell Freedom Phone. Conair continues to produce the Southwestern Bell Freedom Phone line of telephones.
Changes
Southwestern Bell Corporation
For current information on SBC, see AT&T.After the AT&T breakup in 1984, Southwestern Bell Telephone Company was managed by Southwestern Bell Corporation, which was ironically the smallest of all of the 7 RBOCs, as it only held 1 telephone company. Both the holding company, SBC, and SWBT often were referred to as one "Southwestern Bell". In 1995, however, SBC decided to change its corporate name to SBC Communications, Inc., a decision made to make itself a national telecommunications company. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 enabled SBC to become a national company, and 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. Finally, in 2002, SBC dropped the names of all its operating companies, simply resulting in "SBC" as a national brand.As SBC was made a national brand, 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 Communications merged with AT&T Corp. on November 18, 2005, and changed its name to AT&T Inc. AT&T companies, on January 15, 2006, 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
Even though Southwestern Bell Telephone does business as what may appear as five different companies, SWBT was not split into 5 companies. The 5 AT&T d/b/a names for Southwestern Bell are used in reference to the operations in each state.
Headquarters
Southwestern Bell Telephone headquarters are currently located in San Antonio, Texas, where corporate headquarters for AT&T, Inc., its parent company, are also located at One AT&T Plaza. Previously before being relocated to San Antonio, TX, Southwestern Bell was headquartered at One Bell Center (now One AT&T Center) in St. Louis, MO, where Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages is still headquartered.
See also
External links
Logos
| 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. |
| 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. |
| Southwestern Bell Telephone In 1969, AT&T revamped its corporate indentity, resulting in a simplified Bell logo, absent of "Bell System". This logo will remain with SWBT until 2000. |
| SBC Global Network In 1999, SBC Communications, Inc., parent of Southwestern Bell Telephone, has completed its acquistion 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. |
| 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". |
| 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". |
| AT&T Southwest In 2005, 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". |
"Southwestern Bell"