SBC, Yahoo! Extend Partnership To WirelessSBC, Yahoo! Extend Partnership To Wireless

SBC Communications and Yahoo! said Thursday that have extended their marketing relationship to include cellular service, wireless hotspots and wireless home networking equipment in addition to wired broadband.

The companies banded together in 2001 to provide wired broadband service aimed at consumers. They said Thursday, however, that they also will co-offer service from Cingular Wireless, which SBC co-owns as well as SBC's network of FreedomLink Wi-Fi hotspots. The companies said in a statement the first of the new services will be available next year.

"By integrating the SBC Yahoo! experience across multiple devices and networks, we'll deliver services that our competitors cannot match," Edward E. Whitacre Jr., SBC's CEO, said in a statement.

The companies said they would co-brand cellular service from Cingular in the same way they have co-branded SBC's DSL service. They said they also will integrate hotspot access into their offerings. SBC has already announced it will offer its hotspot service for about $2 a month more to its existing DSL customers.