Cingular + AT&T Wireless get hitched

Oh, and just for the record, Cingular finalized their $41 billion purchase of AT&T Wireless today. Now begins not just a two-year process of integration (read: layoffs), but also one of the worst cases of buyer's remorse in history, given that AT&T Wireless has been hemmorhaging customers for the past year or so. To put this in perspective: AT&T Wireless has around 22 million subscribers, at least as of a few months ago. At a cost of $41 billion, Cingular paid roughly $1,850 per subscriber to acquire the company. Given that AT&T Wireless' average revenue per user is $57.40 a month, or $688.80 a year, once you subtract all the costs of doing business like marketing, building out a 3G wireless network, customer service, handset subsidies, etc., it's going to be a good long time before Cingular recoups their investment, so they better hope that acquiring AT&T Wireless' network and spectrum licenses turns out to be worth it. Anyway, expect to see the AT&T Wireless formally disappear sometime around the end of next month, at least until it's resurrected by AT&T, which retains rights to the name.