Southern New England Telephone

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The Southern New England Telephone Company (commonly referred to as SNET by its customers) started operations on January 27, 1878 as the District Telephone Company of New Haven. It was the founder of the first telephone exchange, as well as the world's first telephone book. Since its inception, SNET has held a monopoly on most of the telephone services in the state of Connecticut; the only remaining exception is the Greenwich and Byram exchanges where Verizon New York provides telephone service.^[1]

Prior to February 1984, AT&T held 16.8% of SNET. Since SNET was only a minority holding of AT&T and not considered a Bell Operating Company, AT&T was not legally required to divest ownership of SNET. It opted to do so after January 1, 1984.

In 1998, SBC Communications, now AT&T, purchased Southern New England Telecommunications, its parent company. SNET and Cincinnati Bell were the only two companies in the old Bell System that AT&T only had a minority stake in; therefore, neither is considered a Bell Operating Company (RBOC). The Southern New England Telephone Company was held by Southern New England Telecommunications Corporation, which SBC had purchased in 1998. Cincinnati Bell is still independent of any RBOC, isolated within AT&T territory.

The Southern New England Telephone Company currently does business as AT&T Connecticut.

On June 1, 2007, AT&T absorbed the operations of Woodbury Telephone into Southern New England Telephone. Woodbury Telephone is now defunct.

[edit] Brand history

	The Southern New England Telephone Co. In 1921, SNET is a minority holding, but it still used the Bell branding and was recognized as a part of AT&T. This version of the logo was used up to 1939.
	In 1969 AT&T revamped its corporate look. This version was used until 1983.
	SNET In 1984, AT&T divests ownership of its local operating companies. AT&T sells its SNET shares in February, and SNET becomes a company wholly owned by Southern New England Telecommunications Corp. SNET, on January 1, 1983, forms Sonecor Systems Division (in response to American Bell) to sell telephone equipment from different manufacturers. [1]
	SNET The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is signed. SBC Communications purchases SNET in 1998.
	SNET SBC logo, used from 1998 till 2001
	SBC SNET In 2001, SBC begins to rebrand all of its Bells to reflect their being a part of a national telecommunications provider. SBC eventually drops the names of all of its Bells in late 2002, and adds the title "d/b/a SBC (name of state or region)" to the official names of its companies. Connecticut regulators request SNET be retained, and SBC SNET remains the official d/b/a name of SNET until 2006.
	AT&T East In 2005, SBC completed its acquisition of AT&T Corp., forming AT&T, Inc. AT&T changes the d/b/a names of its Bell Operating Companies on January 1, 2006, resulting in "AT&T East" replacing "SBC SNET".

[edit] See also

• ConnNet

[edit] External links

• History - University of Connecticut Libraries

[edit] References