Judge OKs long-distance carrier megamergers

AT&T and Verizon Communications can rest easy now after a judge on Thursday reaffirmed their respective megamergers.

After a year of deliberations, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan released a 56-page order reaffirming the 2005 decision by the Justice Department to conditionally clear the SBC-AT&T and Verizon-MCI mergers.

The judge said he was troubled by the limited effort the government took in examining the mergers of the biggest phone companies in the country. But in the end, he agreed that the conditions imposed by the DOJ satisfied antitrust requirements.

The outcome of this case is hardly surprising, considering how far these companies have come in terms of integration. The re-branding alone would have been a huge headache and expense for AT&T and Verizon--not to mention what a pain it would be for the public.

Just think how confusing it would be going to a Washington Wizards basketball game or a San Francisco Giants baseball game. Since the merger, the "MCI Center" in Washington, D.C., has been renamed the "Verizon Center." And AT&T wasted no time dumping the old SBC Communications brand in favor of the "New AT&T," calling the stadium that is home to the S.F. Giants "AT&T Park."

So my guess is that it would have been very hard for a judge to get anybody to go through the marketing hassle. Then again, after the $87 billion acquisition of BellSouth, AT&T didn't hesitate in canning the Cingular Wireless name, which has got to confuse and frustrate old AT&T Wireless customers, who became Cingular customers after it bought AT&T Wireless. Talk about confusing the public.