Cingular appears to be pulling it off. Despite concerns that Cingular would lose its newfound status as country's largest provider just a few short quarters after its acquisition of AT&T Wireless, Cingular posted impressive numbers for the quarter, adding 1.8 million new subscribers in a quarter that couldn't have been anything but hectic for the carrier in transition. And while we skeptics assumed that the complexities of integration, brand confusion and general post-merger chaos would have sent customers fleeing, Cingular's churn numbers actually fell from the separate companies' average of 3.2% to a combined 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Sure, Cingular reported a half-billion dollar loss and the mixing of revenues played havoc with Cingular's ARPU, but Cingular isn't showing any signs of handing its top dog title back to Verizon Wireless any time soon. Verizon Wireless added 1.7 million customers in the fourth quarter, preserving the 6 million-subscriber gap separating it from Cingular. Still, despite all of Cingular's marketing, it achieved its fourth-quarter results while essentially operating two separate networks. The AT&T Wireless brand still lingers, which is bound to produce confusion as the months go by. And when Cingular gets down to the real nitty-gritty of network integration, keeping customers happy might prove a bit more difficult. That leaves Verizon Wireless the only major carrier aside from T-Mobile not facing a major integration in 2005. Leaving Verizon with space to make some competitive gains and focus on 3G.