The New AT&T Primed for Smooth Integration for Business Customers

New Family of Companies Designed Post-Merger Transition Strategy to Ensure Quick Realization of Benefits for Business Customers

Since it was born from the AT&T breakup in 1984, SBC Communications Inc. has made several major acquisitions — among them Pacific Telesis Group, Ameritech and SNET (Southern New England Telephone). It has also combined its wireless operations with BellSouth to form Cingular Wireless, which recently acquired AT&T Wireless.

Each of its landmark deals has led to long-term success in a changing industry and to new services and tremendous value to business and residential customers. Now, as it completes its acquisition of AT&T Corp. to create the new AT&T, the former SBC is ready to showcase its unrivaled integration capabilities on a global stage. Once again, SBC companies' experience will be applied to ensure a smooth integration of former SBC and AT&T resources and to deliver new services and customer benefits as quickly as possible.

The new AT&T is confident that its successful track record of quickly and efficiently integrating the companies it has acquired will give it a competitive and financial edge as it brings the former SBC and AT&T companies' largely complementary networks and services into the fold. As such, benefits to customers, as well as employees and investors, can be realized more quickly.

To ensure similar customer success in the creation of the new AT&T, the combined company will reach out to its business customers and detail its strategy for a smooth, efficient and well-planned integration that will benefit their businesses — with no operational disruptions.

With customized outreach to all of its business customers within the first days after the close of the acquisition, the new AT&T will lay out its strategy and work with customers to ensure that they are able to take full advantage of the combined company's scope, resources and capabilities. For enterprise customers, this process will start with assignment of account team contacts.

Larger business customers will be interested in the following facts:

• Customers will need to take no immediate action unless they wish to add to or change their services.
• Account managers will be named as quickly as possible following merger close. In the interim, existing account managers will remain to help customers with any needs.
• The merger of the former SBC and AT&T combines largely complementary assets. This will enable a smooth integration of the combined company's network assets.
• New customers will have immediate opportunities to benefit from the offerings and capabilities of the combined company, as will existing customers who wish to make near-term service changes, such as migrating from layer two to layer three services.

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