iWorld
SBC Communications to adopt AT&T name
BANGALORE: US telecom major SBC Communication’s $16 billion purchase of AT&T was cleared by United States Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday. And soon after, SBC announced its decision to adopt the fabled AT&T brand name as the combined company pursues a global footprint. The new company will unveil a fresh, new logo as well.
“The AT&T name has a proud and storied heritage, as well as unparalleled recognition around the globe among both businesses and consumers,” said SBC Communications chairman & CEO Edward E. Whitacre Jr. “No name is better-suited than AT&T to represent the new company’s passion to deliver innovation, reliability, quality, integrity and unsurpassed customer care. This is the brand that will lead the industry in delivering the next generation of communications and entertainment services.”
The transition to the new brand will be heavily promoted with the largest multimedia advertising and marketing campaign in either company’s history, as well as through other promotional initiatives. At close, the company will also announce the stock market ticker symbol it intends to use.
The famed AT&T brand will be used in a broad array of services offered by the family of companies. The brand transition will begin immediately upon merger close, along with the integration of networks, product and service portfolios, and customer care systems. The new brand will be incorporated into product and service offerings, and will appear on bills and correspondence, as well as on company buildings.
With these traits and long heritage, the AT&T brand will provide a strong platform as the combined company leads the industry’s evolution to a new generation of Internet Protocol (IP)-based services, which can be delivered via wireline or wireless networks to any number of enabled devices such as mobile phones, PCs and hand-held digital devices.
Though there is a huge brand value in AT&T, there are two concerns: first, it is an aged brand, being over 120 years old; secondly, it is known as being just a phone company. It will, thus, be vital to educate the consumers on the wide range of services the company will offer: internet telephony, interactive video, high-speed internet access, cellphone and Wi-Fi services.
SBC provides local and other phone services mostly in the Southwest, Midwest and in California. With the merger, the company aims to become a full-scale provider of communications services such as local calling, long-distance, wireless, Internet access and even television in the US.
SBC was born when the AT&T monopoly was broken up by the federal government in the 80s. AT&T’s dissolution in 1984 gave birth to Southwestern Bell Corp. and six other similar regional companies (the so-called Baby Bells), which concentrated on local phone service.
Southwestern Bell Corp. was renamed to SBC Corp when it acquired a pair of its sibling Baby Bells. This was when the Congress passed a major overhaul of U.S. telecommunications laws in 1996. With the expansion, the company began to offer long distance telephone services. The competition saw AT&T losing its consumer market share significantly. The company was left with its core business of long-distance network services for corporations. The company was left with limited options to survive and the executives preferred a merger.
iWorld
WhatsApp emerges as key commerce channel in India: Meta report
Whitepaper shows 77 per cent of purchases influenced by social media and shoppers spend 2.5 times more across channels
MUMBAI: If shopping once meant a stroll down the high street, today it begins with a scroll on a smartphone. India’s retail journey is being rewritten in real time, as consumers glide between Instagram Reels, WhatsApp chats and physical stores with barely a pause for thought. A new whitepaper by Meta in collaboration with the Retailers Association of India argues that this shift is not cosmetic but structural, powered by artificial intelligence, short form video, creators and conversational commerce.
The numbers underline the scale of the change.
Social media now influences 77 per cent of retail purchase decisions in India, with Meta’s platforms accounting for 96 per cent of social driven discovery. Discovery itself is increasingly passive and visual rather than deliberate and search led. As much as 97 per cent of consumers watch short form video daily, and 60 per cent of time spent on Facebook and Instagram is devoted to video content.
In other words, the shop window has moved to the feed.
The report highlights the growing dominance of the omnichannel shopper, a consumer who researches and buys fluidly across online and offline environments. More than 50 per cent of retail consumers research products online before purchasing in store. Equally, over 50 per cent browse in store before completing their purchase online.
This blended behaviour is lucrative. Shoppers who buy across channels spend 2.5 times more than single channel shoppers. When customers engage across multiple touchpoints, spending rises by as much as 73 per cent. For retailers, unified commerce is no longer a strategy slide. It is a revenue imperative.
Meta India director of E commerce and retail Meghna Apparao, urged brands to focus on three pillars: Reels and creators for authentic storytelling, omnichannel performance marketing to connect platforms, and WhatsApp as a personalised commerce channel. Hitesh Bhatt of RAI noted that the challenge is no longer adopting digital tools but integrating them to deliver measurable outcomes.
Artificial intelligence sits at the heart of this integration. Indian retailers using Meta’s omnichannel optimisation have recorded more than fourfold improvements in omnichannel return on ad spend. Businesses that integrated in store sales data through Meta’s Conversions API have reported Roas uplift ranging from 2 times to 5 times or more, alongside incremental sales growth of up to 9 times depending on category and market.
Integrated data strategies have also delivered revenue growth of up to 15 per cent, suggesting that when digital signals are tied to offline outcomes, marketing efficiency sharpens considerably.
Retailers are already putting this into practice. Reliance Digital has leaned into a Reels first strategy, working with regional creators to drive engagement and measurable business impact. Croma says Meta’s AI powered tools have enabled it to integrate offline data and activate performance marketing across touchpoints, strengthening both footfall and revenue across online and physical stores.
Trust is increasingly creator led. The report finds that 71 per cent of consumers make a purchase within a couple of days of seeing creator content on Meta’s technologies. Campaigns that leverage reels and creators have delivered 71 per cent higher brand intent lift and 19 per cent lower acquisition costs.
Micro and nano creators, in particular, are accelerating purchase decisions by embedding products into relatable, local narratives. Influence is no longer confined to celebrity endorsements. It is distributed, conversational and continuous.
If Instagram and Facebook drive discovery, WhatsApp is emerging as the conversion engine. According to the report, 72 per cent of product discovery now happens on WhatsApp. Retailers using business messaging and click to WhatsApp campaigns are seeing a 61 per cent average improvement in return on ad spend, a 62 per cent increase in leads and 22 per cent higher order values.
The implication is clear. Commerce is shifting from clicks to conversations. Discovery, purchase and post purchase support increasingly unfold within a single chat thread.
The whitepaper argues that omnichannel maturity will define competitiveness in Indian retail. Consumers no longer toggle between online and offline modes. They operate across both simultaneously, often within the same buying journey.
For brands, the task is no longer about being present on digital platforms. It is about stitching together discovery, data, conversation and store experience into a unified loop that can be measured in footfall, revenue and repeat purchase.
As India’s shoppers continue to scroll before they stroll, the retailers who align AI, creators and messaging into one seamless experience may find that the path to growth is less about adding new channels and more about connecting the ones they already have.
