San Antonio-based SBC Communications Inc. is in talks to acquire AT&T Corp., a combination that could create the nation’s largest telecommunications company in an industry where companies are feverishly attempting to grow in an effort to keep up with new technologies and competitors.
So, over 20 years after the breakup of Ma Bell, the breakup may be coming full circle. SBC is now the second-largest U.S. regional phone company and one of the three huge telecoms to emerge from the consolidation of the Baby Bells. Although such a deal is fraught with hurdles before it could be consummated, the proposed merger would combine some of the largest pieces of the Ma Bell monopoly that was broken up in 1984. It appears that the primary attraction of the deal is linking SBC’s 50 million local-line customers with AT&T’s world-largest international fiber network and its large corporate client list.
The deal makes sense for AT&T because it is struggling to compete in the vicious long-distance price wars with MCI and the Baby Bells. Moreover, given AT&T’s diminished role in the industry, the Justice Department would be unlikely to try and block such a merger. Probably the biggest industry issue is how other big telecommunications companies such as Verizon and BellSouth will respond, particularly since BellSouth had similar talks with AT&T in 2003 that did not result in a deal.