Southwestern Bell Facts for Kids

This page is about the company known as Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. For the holding company that shared the Southwestern Bell name from 1983 to 1995, see AT&T.

Quick facts for kids
Southwestern Bell Telephone Company

Trade name	AT&T Arkansas AT&T Kansas AT&T Missouri AT&T Oklahoma AT&T Southwest AT&T Texas
Formerly	The Missouri and Kansas Telephone Company (1882-1920)
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	1882; 143 years ago (1882)
Headquarters	Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas , United States
Area served	Arkansas, Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas
Key people	John T. Stankey (CEO)
Products	Local Telephone Service
Parent	Bell System (1882–1899) AT&T (1899–1983) SBC Communications (1984–2005) AT&T (2005-present)

Southwestern Bell Telephone Company is a big company that provides phone services. It is owned by AT&T. This company operates in many states. These states include Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and parts of Illinois. Its main office is in Dallas, Texas.

How Southwestern Bell Started
Southwestern Bell Corporation and Changes
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How Southwestern Bell Started

Southwestern Bell Telephone started a long time ago. Its story began in 1882 with a company called The Missouri and Kansas Telephone Company. This was the very first part of what would become Southwestern Bell.

Over time, other phone companies joined together. On March 1, 1912, several companies merged. These included Southwestern Telegraph and Telephone Company, Pioneer Telephone and Telegraph Company, and The Bell Telephone Company of Missouri. They all became part of the "Southwestern System" of the Bell System.

In 1917, The Missouri and Kansas Telephone Company officially changed its name. It became the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. This was a big step in its history.

Southwestern Bell was once a very important part of the Bell System. The Bell System was a huge group of phone companies owned by AT&T. Southwestern Bell was sometimes the largest local phone company in this group.

The company kept growing by adding smaller phone companies. In 1950, it took over Southeast Missouri Telephone Company. Then, in 1952, it absorbed Southwest Telephone Company. This company served Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. In 1953, Ozark Central Telephone Company also joined Southwestern Bell.

Southwestern Bell also provides phone service to two towns in Illinois. These towns are Kaskaskia and McClure.

Southwestern Bell Corporation and Changes

The Big Breakup of AT&T

On January 1, 1984, a major change happened. The large AT&T company was broken up by the government. This event is called the 1984 breakup. Because of this, Southwestern Bell Telephone became the main company of a new group. This new group was called Southwestern Bell Corporation.

Southwestern Bell Corporation was the smallest of the seven new phone companies. These companies were often called "Baby Bells". Even though it was the smallest, it was still a very important company.

Changing the Company Name

In 1995, Southwestern Bell Corporation decided to change its name. It became SBC Communications. This change was made to show that the company was growing. It wanted to be seen as a national phone company, not just a regional one.

Southwestern Bell Telephone also changed its advertising. It used slogans like "Your friendly neighborhood global telecommunications company." This slogan was later made shorter to "Friendly. Neighborhood. Global."

How Southwestern Bell Moved Its Official Home

The original Southwestern Bell Telephone Company was officially based in Missouri. But on December 30, 2001, it merged with another company. This company was called Southwestern Bell Texas, Inc., and it was based in Texas.

Later, in 2007, the company moved its official home back to Missouri. Then, in 2012, Southwestern Bell changed its official state again. This time, it moved to Delaware. This means the company's legal registration changed states a few times.

How the Brand Changed Over Time

From 1917 until 2001, the company was simply known as Southwestern Bell. But things started to change in 1999. SBC Communications began to brand all its phone companies. They used the "SBC Global Network" name.

In 2000, the "Bell" logo was removed from the Southwestern Bell brand. Then, in 2001, SBC made its company logos more standard. Southwestern Bell became known as SBC Southwestern Bell.

The Southwestern Bell name completely disappeared in late 2002. SBC decided to use "SBC" as a single national brand for all its companies. So, Southwestern Bell started doing business under new names. These included SBC Arkansas, SBC Kansas, SBC Missouri, SBC Oklahoma, SBC Southwest, and SBC Texas.

A big change happened on November 18, 2005. SBC Communications bought the original AT&T Corp. After this, SBC Communications changed its own name to AT&T Inc.

Soon after, on January 15, 2006, the phone companies got new names. Southwestern Bell began doing business as AT&T Arkansas, AT&T Kansas, AT&T Missouri, AT&T Oklahoma, and AT&T Texas. The regional name for all these areas is now AT&T Southwest.