Ameritech Cellular
American wireless services company; subsidiary of AT&T
title: "Ameritech Cellular" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["at&t-subsidiaries", "1983-establishments-in-illinois"] description: "American wireless services company; subsidiary of AT&T" topic_path: "general/at-t-subsidiaries" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ameritech_Cellular" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American wireless services company; subsidiary of AT&T ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox company"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Ameritech Mobile Communications, LLC |
| logo | Ameritech mobile.png |
| logo_size | 250px |
| type | Holding of AT&T Mobility |
| foundation | |
| defunct | |
| fate | Acquired By SBC Communications (AT&T INC.) |
| location | Chicago, IL |
| industry | Wireless company |
| products | AMPS |
| parent | Ameritech (1984-1999) |
| SBC (1999-2000) | |
| AT&T Wireless, LLC (2000-present) | |
| homepage | att.com/wireless |
| :: |
| name = Ameritech Mobile Communications, LLC| | logo = Ameritech mobile.png | logo_size = 250px | type = Holding of AT&T Mobility | foundation = | defunct = | fate = Acquired By SBC Communications (AT&T INC.) | location = Chicago, IL | key_people = | industry = Wireless company | company_slogan = | products = AMPS | revenue = | parent = Ameritech (1984-1999) SBC (1999-2000) AT&T Wireless, LLC (2000-present) | num_employees = | homepage = att.com/wireless}} Ameritech Mobile Communications, LLC was the first company in the United States to provide cellular mobile phone service to the general public. Cell service became publicly available in Chicago on October 13, 1983. The company was a division of Ameritech which, as of January 1, 1984, was the holding company of Illinois Bell, Michigan Bell, Wisconsin Bell, Ohio Bell, and Indiana Bell, which provide landline service to the Great Lakes region. From around 1986, Cincinnati Bell held a 45% stake in the company. Originally named Ameritech Mobile Communications, it later became known as Ameritech Cellular.
Following Ameritech's merger with SBC Corporation, Ameritech's wireless network was integrated with SBC's wireless network. Originally Ameritech used CDMA as its network technology choice, but then converted to TDMA to be compatible with SBC's other wireless networks that were mostly using TDMA. During the SBC merger its original network in Chicago was sold to GTE (which later became part of Verizon Wireless).
References
References
- Boyer, Mike. (February 4, 1998). "Cincinnati Bell adding wireless". Gannett Company.
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