AT&T Canada

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AT&T Canada was renamed Allstream as the Canadian unit ceased operations in 2004. AT&T continues to do business in Canada from the United States operations. AT&T Canada was based in Toronto, Ontario.

[edit] History

Previous to that, AT&T Canada was known as Unitel. Unitel made the application in 1990 to the CRTC that opened the Canadian telephone market to long distance competition in 1992, a successful application that superseded the attempt by its predecessor CNCP Telecommunications in 1983.

Unitel was formed by CNCP Telecommunications. CNCP was formed by a joint venture of CN Telegraphs and CP Telegraphs when the telegraph and telex businesses went into decline and a joint venture would make it more profitable than each company going it alone. The two companies were established by their respective national railway companies.

Unitel was then sold to Rogers Communications where the company attempted to enter the long distance competition. Following that it was sold to a consortium of Canadian banks, with AT&T US owning 33% share, but more than any one of the banks, giving them operational control.