Southwestern Bell

For current information on SBC, see History of AT&T.

Southwestern Bell logo, 1964–1969

On January 1, 1984, as part of the breakup of AT&T, Southwestern Bell Telephone became the namesake and leading subsidiary of the new Regional Bell Operating Company, Southwestern Bell Corporation. SBC was the smallest of all of the seven "Baby Bells", as it only held one telephone company. The architect of divestiture for Southwestern Bell was Robert G. Pope. He later became the Vice-Chairman of the board of directors and Chief Financial Officer of SBC while remaining the President and CEO of the several subsidiaries.

Although "Southwestern Bell" generally referred to the operations of the entire Baby Bell, in 1995, SBC decided to change its corporate name to SBC Communications in order to reposition itself as a national telecommunications company. Southwestern Bell Telephone underwent a branding overhaul and adopted the slogan, "Your friendly neighborhood global telecommunications company." The slogan was later shortened to, "Friendly. Neighborhood. Global."

On December 30, 2001, the original Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, incorporated in Missouri, ceased to exist when it was merged into Southwestern Bell Texas, Inc., a separate operating company incorporated in Texas.[5] Southwestern Bell Texas then converted itself into a limited partnership and renamed itself Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P., incorporated in Texas.[6] This company ceased to exist on June 29, 2007, when it was merged into SWBT Inc., incorporated in Missouri,[7] which was founded just 8 days prior. At that point, SWBT Inc. took the formerly dormant name Southwestern Bell Telephone Company and Southwestern Bell again became a resident company in Missouri.

In 2012, Southwestern Bell relocated its state of incorporation from Missouri to Delaware.[8]

Southwestern Bell logo, 1969–1999

From its name change in 1917 until 2001, SWBT was simply branded as Southwestern Bell. Starting in 1999, SBC Communications began branding its operating companies as part of the "SBC Global Network," with the name enclosed in a circle with the Pacific Telesis "access" mark to the logos of its divisions (Ameritech, Nevada Bell, Pacific Bell, SNET, Southwestern Bell).

Southwestern Bell logo, 1999-2000

In 2000, the Bell logo was dropped from the mark of Southwestern Bell.

In 2001, SBC standardized its operating company branding logos, and placed the SBC corporate logo toward the northwest of the name "Southwestern Bell", and the branding for SWBT became SBC Southwestern Bell.

Southwestern Bell logo, 2000–2001

The Southwestern Bell brand vanished in 2002 when SBC dropped the names of all its operating companies to use "SBC" as a national brand. Since d/b/a names weren't approved before publishing deadlines for telephone directories distributed in December 2002 and January 2003, the Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. name remained on telephone directories issued in December 2002 and January 2003.

SBC Southwestern Bell logo, 2001–2002

After d/b/a names were approved, SBC began to officially use the Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P. name conjoined with the following titles:

• d/b/a SBC Arkansas
• d/b/a SBC Kansas
• d/b/a SBC Missouri
• d/b/a SBC Oklahoma
• d/b/a SBC Southwest
• d/b/a SBC Texas

Southwestern Bell payphone with new AT&T signage

SBC Communications bought AT&T Corp. on November 18, 2005, and changed its name to AT&T Inc. Shortly afterwards, on January 15, 2006, AT&T companies were given new d/b/a names. As a result, officially, Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P. is now joined with the titles:

• d/b/a AT&T Arkansas
• d/b/a AT&T Kansas
• d/b/a AT&T Missouri
• d/b/a AT&T Oklahoma
• d/b/a AT&T Texas

The collective d/b/a name is now AT&T Southwest.