[VoiceOps] Carriers Keeping Acquired Defunct Company Names

[Mark R Lindsey, ECG]

My understanding is that this is all about the administrative friction of
transfers and re-registrations.

Once you’re registered with the FCC, state Public Utilities Commissions,
local authorities for access to right of way and pole access, name changes
and transfers can be complex. Then there are telecom-specific registries
like NANP and NPAC, where each reassignment of a NPANXX block might require
filing several forms. It’s also possible for those transfers to be
rejected, hypothetically even if the FTC, DOJ or other related agencies
have approved the transfer.

However certain transactions, like a simple change of ownership, or an
addition of a DBA identity, can be successful ways to get through the red
tape. Therefore you’ll still see names going back to the original creation
of the databases at the breakup of “Ma Bell;” e.g., blocks of numbers
assigned to “Southern Bell”, later renamed BellSouth, later acquired by
AT&T. But in some databases it’s still retained as the old name from the
early 1989s.



On Sat, Oct 23, 2021 at 18:32 Peter Beckman <beckman at angryox.com> wrote:

> 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.
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Peter Beckman                                                  Internet Guy
> beckman at angryox.com
> https://www.angryox.com/
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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-- 
Mark R Lindsey | Senior Member of Technical Staff / VP
+1-229-316-0013 | Calendar: https://ecg.co/lindsey
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