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'Unthinkable' deal becomes reality as SBC grabs AT&T 2 hours, 41 minutes ago Business - AFP NEW YORK (AFP) - In a move dismissed as "unthinkable" a few years ago, SBC Communications said it was buying AT&T in a 16-billion-dollar deal in which "Ma Bell" will be absorbed by one of its offspring. The deal would create the largest US telecom company and sound the death knell for the company once known as American Telephone and Telegraph, a cultural and business icon that has been in business for some 130 years. The end for Ma Bell would come, ironically, at...

Talk about speedy. Last month, a competition among physicists produced a 101 gigabit per second data transfer -- a rate that would enable downloads of three DVDs per second or the whole library of Congress in 15 minutes. Put another way, it's about 1.8 million times faster than your standard 56Kbps dial up and about 67,000 times faster than Verizon's $29.95 digital subscriber line (DSL) download speed -- one movie every 6 hours, if you please. Which is one reason that some Internet fans, rather than going, "Golly gee" might be excused for responding to the news with a grudging,...

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - SBC Communications Inc. president William Daley has resigned and the company named Forrest Miller, currently corporate planning group president, to replace him. The telecommunications company offered no explanation for the abrupt personnel changes in its brief statement. Miller's title will be Group President-External Affairs and Planning and he will report to SBC chairman and chief executive Edward Whitacre Jr. The group will combine the company's public affairs and planning units ``We appreciate Bill's efforts on behalf of SBC and wish him well,'' Whitacre said. SBC, the nation's No. 2 local-phone company, has been struggling in the...

SAN ANTONIO -- SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE:SBC - News) plans to move to a single national brand to provide a more unified presence in the marketplace, making it easier for customers to find and do business with SBC companies. In a press release Tuesday, the company said the move to a single national brand will unify offerings previously marketed through regional brands such as SBC Southwestern Bell, SBC Pacific Bell, SBC Nevada Bell and SBC Ameritech. SBC companies will continue to offer wireless service nationwide through Cingular Wireless, SBC's joint venture with BellSouth Corp. "Adopting a single, unified SBC...

Do you agree with SBC Ameritech workers who say splitting up their company will cost local jobs? Freep this poll! This company is anti-competion and is trying to intimidate the legislature in Indiana and the people. Heck, why would we need more competion??? Life is great when you live in a monopoly!

According to 2000 income-tax returns, the Jackson Rainbow/Coalition netted more than $3 million from corporate giants Freddie Mac, Verizon and Citigroup. The late release by the Rev. Jesse Jackson of his group's 2000 tax returns provide tantalizing glimpses into his corporate fund raising. Among the previously unknown items is a payment of $1,050,000 to the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition from the Federal Home Mortgage Corp. (Freddie Mac) "to develop an infrastructure to support credit- and investment-outreach programs." Also included on the returns is $1,675,000 received from Verizon Communications Inc. and a $500,000 payment from the Citigroup Foundation, both of which have...