Digital Trends

The newly reborn AT&T, fresh off of digesting BellSouth, plans to turn off the lights on their Cingular Wireless brand by next year and name it AT&T Wireless.

In the never ending saga of the comings and goings of the AT&T brand name and other brands it has either assumed or been absorbed by, Advertising Age reported yesterday that the "new" AT&T is now planning to kill off the Cingular Wireless name by 2007 in favor of...you guessed it, AT&T Wireless.

The move, according to the Advertising Age article, could cost AT&T hundreds of millions over the coming years as the slowing reforming corporate giant changes what once was AT&T and then became Cingular back now to AT&T yet again. The previous Cingular parents — SBC and BellSouth — spent reportedly $4 billion to turn the wireless brand, with its well known orange logo, into something of a household name.

AT&T, in their defense, seems to feel the strength of their venerable name will carry them through the transition and that, in the end, it will "eliminate customer confusion and make a much more elegant solution", especially in regards to bundled services.