New AT&T unveils new logo

NEW YORK — The new AT&T Inc., freshly formed by SBC Communications Inc.’s purchase of its former parent company, on Monday unveiled its new corporate logo: a variation on the familiar blue AT&T globe with the company’s name spelled in lowercase letters just below.

Customers will see the new logo design with their monthly bills starting in December, but only on the envelopes. It will start appearing on the actual invoice in February.

The re-branding of SBC’s services under the AT&T name may take longer. The switch won’t be made until all legal and regulatory name-change filings are complete, the company said.

The changeover also entails replacing both the SBC logo and the old AT&T logo on 50,000 vehicles, 6,000 buildings and 40,000 uniforms and hardhats worn be employees, a process expected to take several months.

“Good morning, AT&T — it feels great to finally say that,” said Edward Whitacre Jr., chairman and chief executive, said at a ceremony marking the new logo introduction in San Antonio. A similar ceremony was held at the old AT&T’s base in Bedminster, N.J.

Whitacre, who presided over SBC’s growth from a regional phone carrier into one of the nation’s two dominant telecommunications players, told workers that the reconnection between SBC and AT&T will form a company better than either could be on its own.

“Our goal is to be the only communications and entertainment company our customers will ever want,” he said. “That’s what this merger is all about.”

The company said the new logo was designed to look three-dimensional, “representing the expanding breadth and depth of services that the new AT&T family of companies provides to customers.”

Lowercase type was chosen for “at&t” in the logo “because it projects a more welcoming and accessible image,” the company said.

Whitacre acknowledged that it was an emotional decision to replace the SBC brand and logo, which he worked long and hard to build as he transformed SBC from a regional phone company into one of the nation’s two dominant telecommunications players.

“It’s sad for me, but I think we’re doing the right thing for the company,” he said in an interview.