Houston Cellular

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Houston Cellular Telephone Company, L.P.
Type	Holding of AT&T Mobility
Founded	1984
Headquarters	Houston, TX, USA
Area served	Southeast Texas
Industry	Telecommunications
Parent	AT&T Mobility

Houston Cellular was a Houston-based cell phone company which provided AMPS and D-AMPS (TDMA) service in the Greater Houston area. It was formed in 1983 and was operated as a partnership between LIN Broadcasting Corp., Mobile Communication Corp. of America and BellSouth Co.^[1] Through a series of acquisitions and mergers, within 10 years, the company consisted of a 2 way parnership between BellSouth and AT&T Wireless, the partnership was also known as BellSouth Mobility, LLC. Houston Cellular began providing service in May 1986.

Houston Cellular was formed as a result of the October 1983 Federal Communications Commission's ruling that set aside sufficient frequencies for the operation of two cellular systems in each metropolitan area (this ruling was expanded in the early 1990's with the advent of the 800 and 1900 MHz protcols a.k.a PCS).^{[citation needed]} The ruling reserved one system for application by local phone companies. In Houston, the competing, non-local company service was applied by GTE Mobilnet.

In June, 2000, GTE merged with Bell Atlantic to form Verizon Wireless. At that time AT&T Wireless sold its 55% stake in Houston Cellular to BellSouth. AT&T Wireless then bought 20 MHz of the CDMA spectrum owned by the outgoing PrimeCo (which was swallowed in the formation of Verizon Wireless). AT&T Wireless used this purchase of frequencies to directly compete in the Houston market with D-AMPS (TDMA) service. Additionally, Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems, a division of Southwestern Bell Telephone Company was also partnered with GTE. That partnership was dissolved.

In 2001, BellSouth partnered with Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems. This partnership renamed the division from BellSouth Mobility, LLC to Cingular Wireless, LLC. It also transformed Houston Cellular into Cingular Wireless.

In 2006, the parent company of Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems, SBC Communications, acquired BellSouth. This eventually led to the renaming of Cingular Wireless, LLC to AT&T Mobility, LLC.

It exists today as Houston Cellular Telephone Company, L.P. d/b/a AT&T Mobility, LLC.

The service is now branded as "Wireless from AT&T, formerly Cingular Wireless", or "Wireless from AT&T", or sometimes simply "AT&T".

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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Cingular Wireless FAQ

• BellSouth Mobility
• Bell System Memorial
• Southwestern Bell Freedom Phone
• AT&T corporate website
• AT&T Mobility
• AT&T Center (formerly SBC Center) in San Antonio
• Legal Battle with BellSouth over Domain Names: U.S. Supreme Court Case 05-718 Reuben Norman, Petitioner v. BellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation
• AT&T History and science resources at The Franklin Institute's Case Files online exhibit
• Brand evolution of AT&T companies
• Press Release announcing FCC Approval of SBC-Ameritech merger (1999-10-06)
• Stock Quote from Yahoo!
• July 2005 IEEE Article
• Yahoo! — AT&T Corp. Company Profile
• ATT's most recent conference call transcripts
• Unnatural Monopoly: Critical Moments in the Development of the Bell System Monopoly by Adam D. Thierer
• "AT&T buys IBM's Global Network", BBC News, December 8, 1998
• "SBC closes AT&T acquisition", CNet News, November 18, 2005
• "SBC launches 'new' AT&T", AT&T archive, November 18, 2005
• "AT&T to buy BellSouth for $67 billion", CNet News, March 5, 2006
• "AT&T gets final approval to acquire BellSouth, CNNMoney, December 29, 2006
• "AT&T and BellSouth Join to Create a Premier Global Communications Company", AT&T News Room, December 29, 2006
• Yahoo! - AT&T Mobility LLC Company Profile