[VoiceOps] Carriers Keeping Acquired Defunct Company Names

[Jay Taylor]

Qwest was on the ball back in the day and got one of the few single letter domain names.  Centurylink now controls  q.com and qwest was putting customer email addresses on that domain. I don't know if Centurylink is still using that domain for customers anymore.

Jay

-----Original Message-----
From: VoiceOps <voiceops-bounces at voiceops.org> On Behalf Of Peter Beckman
Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2021 5:22 PM
To: VoiceOps <voiceops at voiceops.org>
Subject: [VoiceOps] Carriers Keeping Acquired Defunct Company Names

I'm curious why companies like T-Mobile and Inteliquent/Onvoy/Voyant continue to retain company names and corporate entities long after their brands have been retired, acquired, and generally shell entities holding phone numbers.

Some examples:

     T-Mobile    -> Omnipoint, Aerial Communications, Suncom, Powertel,
                    Sprint, Eliska Wireless Ventures Subsidiary I
     Sprint      -> O1 Communications, US Telepacific
     AT&T        -> New Cingular Wireless, Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell,
                    Bell South, Southern Bell, Ameritech
     Verizon     -> Cellco Partnership, Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile
     Inteliquent -> Radiant IQ, Onvoy, Voyant, Broadvox, Layered, Neutral
                    Tandem
     CenturyLink -> United Telephone, Qwest
     Spectrum    -> Charter Fiberlink

So many of these brands are dead and acquired, yet these companies live on and own phone numbers. Cingular died in 2006. Radiant IQ acquired in 2015.
Bell Atlantic went away in 2000 with Verizon acquiring Bell Atlantic and GTE.

Why? What benefit does this provide the owning/operating companies? Legal insulation?

Beckman

PS -- This all started when I saw Inteliquent request VoIP Numbering for Radiant IQ in June 2020, a company they acquired in 2015, and generally does not exist in any meaningful way to customers or consumers, residential or business. This industry in the US is weird.
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Peter Beckman                                                  Internet Guy
beckman at angryox.com                                https://www.angryox.com/
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