Cingular, AT&T Wireless Integrating Faster Than Expected

The process of integrating Cingular Wireless and AT&T Wireless has gone faster than expected, SBC Communications said Wednesday. As a result, SBC, which owns 60 percent of Cingular, said it expects to profit from the acquisition sooner than it had previously forecast.

Because the process has gone so smoothly, SBC said Cingular's management now expects "increased operating synergies and reduced accounting impacts" compared to previous projections. In addition, SBC said it expects a positive impact from the acquisition on its overall bottom line starting in 2006. It previously had projected a profit from the acquisition starting in 2007.

Specifically, SBC said it expected a positive impact from the acquisition of between $.27 and .$30 in 2006. It previously had forecast the first positive financial impact to be between a penny and three cents in 2007.

Cingular recently said it expects to cut 10 percent of the positions in the combined wireless company, which is now the largest wireless operator in the U.S. Besides SBC, Cingular's other co-owner is Vodafone, which is based in the U.K.