USA Today reported in its Monday editions that Ed Whitacre, CEO of the newly-renamed AT&T confirmed that Cingular will soon also become AT&T. SBC -- now AT&T -- owns 60 percent of Cingular with BellSouth owning the rest.
Cingular purchased the old AT&T Wireless after that company suffered tremendous loss of customers. At the time, Cingular lost rights to the storied AT&T name, but with SBC's acquisition of AT&T, those rights have returned.
When asked by USA Today whether AT&T planed to eliminate the name Cingular and use AT&T, Whitacre said, "Yes, we do." A spokesperson for BellSouth told the newspaper that the company had no objection to the renaming.