Cingular

Cingular, formed in 2001, is a joint venture of the American landline telephone companies SBC and BellSouth. The two companies hold 60% and 40% stakes in Cingular, respectively, based on the value of the assets each company contributed to the venture.

Cingular is the second largest mobile phone carrier in the United States; Verizon Wireless is the first. On February 17, 2004, Cingular won by default a bidding war for competitor AT&T Wireless, the third-largest mobile phone carrier in the United States, who began accepting bids for a possible merger earlier in the month. UK-based Vodafone, the US IDEN provider Nextel, and Japan's NTT DoCoMo (who already owned a roughly 15% stake in AT&T Wireless) were among those said to also be considering bids. Vodafone eventually withdrew their bids, feeling it was "no longer in its shareholders' best interests to continue discussions," but not before driving the price to Cingular up to about $40.5 billion (US). NTT DoCoMo declined to bid shortly after bidding began, due to the cost and potential risk involved.

If the Cingular/AT&T deal meets with regulatory approval, Cingular will gain enough subscribers to pass Verizon Wireless and become the number one carrier in the United States in terms of subscribers.

Cingular operates a mixed network consisting of GSM (from the former Pacific Bell Wireless and BellSouth Mobility DCS networks), and TDMA and AMPS (from SBC's Southwestern Bell Mobility network, BellSouth's BellSouth Mobility network, and various acquisitions, including systems operating under the Cellular One name), which they are working to convert to pure GSM/GPRS. Cingular is also experimentally deploying EDGE data services in certain areas. The network runs GSM-1900 in the former Pacific Bell Wireless and BellSouth Mobility DCS areas. The areas that have been converted to GSM from TDMA are mostly GSM-850, but there are some exceptions where the pre-Cingular companies had licenses for the 1900MHz band.

In California and New York City, Cingular and T-Mobile maintain and share a GSM-1900 network, through a joint venture known as GSM Facilities. The network sharing agreement allowed Cingular to offer local service in New York City and T-Mobile to offer service in California.

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