(18 November 2005 8:00 pm)

MUMBAI: : SBC Communications Inc. closed its acquisition of AT&T Corp. today as California regulators approved the transaction - the final approval needed for the merger of the companies' highly complementary networks, product portfolios, capabilities and shared heritage. The combined enterprise will immediately begin a well-planned integration process, allowing the new AT&T family of companies to quickly deliver benefits for both customers and stockholders.

A revitalized corporate logo will be unveiled on Monday, 21 November, the company's first full day of operation as the new AT&T, states an official release.

Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T Inc. is the largest telecommunications company in the United States and one of the largest in the world. The combined company is the largest U.S. provider of high-speed DSL Internet services and local and long-distance voice services and the No. 1 provider of data services to the Fortune 1000. The new AT&T owns 60 percent of Cingular Wireless, which is the No. 1 U.S. wireless services provider, the release adds.

The combined company is now poised to lead the industry in one of the most significant shifts in communications technology since the invention of the telephone more than 120 years earlier - the deployment of integrated services based on Internet Protocol, giving customers access to virtually any services, anytime, anywhere.

"We are ready to meet the needs of a new generation of customers in a new era of communications and entertainment," said chairman and CEO of AT&T Inc. Edward E. Whitacre Jr.

"The combination of SBC and AT&T companies gives us the local, global, and wireless network resources and the expertise to set the standard for delivering meaningful innovations and making the promise of integrated communications and entertainment a reality for consumers and businesses," Whitacre said. "This combination is more powerful because of our shared heritage of innovation, service quality, reliability and integrity."

On 27 October 27, SBC had announced that it would adopt the AT&T Inc. name following merger close. Today, the company announced that it will begin trading under the "T" symbol on the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 1. In the interim, it will trade under the existing "SBC" symbol.