AT&T Wireless PCS — historically AT&T Wireless PCS, Inc. (a Delaware corporation), later AT&T Wireless PCS, LLC, and since December 2004 New Cingular Wireless PCS, LLC. It is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), held through AT&T Mobility II, LLC, and serves as a licensed operating entity for AT&T's U.S. wireless business. It originated as the PCS-license-holding affiliate of AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. (Redmond, WA; regulatory offices then at 295 North Maple Ave., Basking Ridge, NJ), which AT&T Corp. spun off as a separate public company in July 2001. The subsidiary files no separate financials, and no independently verifiable employee or revenue figures are published for it.
Operations. It is a wireless carrier, not a manufacturer: it holds and operates FCC cellular and broadband PCS (1900 MHz) licenses and provides mobile voice and data service to AT&T subscribers. In USPTO/TTAB filings it describes itself as licensee of more than 8,000 FCC licenses and, under its current name, as AT&T's "FCC-licensed affiliate." It was converted from a corporation to an LLC in 2002, and after Cingular Wireless acquired AT&T Wireless Services in October 2004 it was renamed New Cingular Wireless PCS, LLC.
Litigation posture. The database shows 1 tracked case, 0 as plaintiff and 1 as defendant — the profile of an operating carrier being sued, not a patent asserter. The sole case was filed in the District of Massachusetts, not a plaintiff-friendly NPE venue such as the Eastern District of Texas.
Notable case. Freedom Wireless, Inc. v. Boston Communications Group, Inc. et al., No. C-00-1129-SBA (D. Mass.), filed 2000. Freedom Wireless, a small privately held Phoenix patent holder, asserted 1994-era patents (inventors Douglas Fougnies and Dan Harned) covering prepaid wireless billing without passcode entry. A May 20, 2005 jury verdict awarded $128 million; BCGI was held liable for the full amount, while AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless, CMT Partners and Western Wireless were liable for smaller time-based amounts. The verdict was upheld in September 2005 and settled in July 2006 for $87 million ($55.3 million from BCGI, $32 million from the carriers). Cingular's acquisition of AT&T Wireless closed mid-case; the successor entity remains AT&T's wireless licensee.