AT&T Buys Centennial for $944 Million
Nov 7, 2008, 11:05 PM by Eric M. Zeman
AT&T has agreed to acquire Centennial Communications for a cash deal of $944 million. The deal will add approximately 1.1 million customers to its subscriber base. Centennial has operations in rural areas of the Midwest and Southeast United States, along with Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Despite the purchase, the combined Verizon-Alltel entity will remain larger than AT&T once Verizon's acquisition of Alltel is complete. AT&T hopes the deal will close by the second quarter of 2009.
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Comments
Yay!
I've always thought that this was inevitable. Since AT&T bought out Dobson, I knew it was only a matter of time. Here in Michigan, AT&T will now be able to cover the entire state with 850 MHz coverage except in some areas, but they already have a great PCS network built in those areas. I know it means less competition in the state, but it makes for a much more uniform and complete network. That way you don't have to roam when you go to those areas and those customers can now access the AT&T network like it's their home network.
I just hope Verizon gets around to buying out some other small companies around the Midwest as well. Like Cellcom, Illinois Valley Cellular, and Thumb Cellular.
I just hope Verizon gets around to buying out some other small companies around the Midwest as well. Like Cellcom, Illinois Valley Cellular, and Thumb Cellular.
The only market in Michigan that AT&T won't have an 850 license (unless a sway takes place) will be the Grand Rapids market. At least for now, once the Alltel buyout is finalized, Verizon will hold both licenses. But I'm not surprised AT&T is going ...
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this company has such a little amount of towers and they are in debt to their eyeballs. if this was suppose to counter VZW aquisition of Alltell thats hilarious. Basically ATT took on 1.1 million subscribers, and probably only 700k will remain with AT...
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All I have to say is what the HECK kinda name is Thumb Cellular?!!!?
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while its great for the customers...
It sucks for the employees... yet again adding another million customers with the same amount of customer care reps to handle the calls... wait times will be even longer! Mediocre pay for the wireless side while the landline continues to be incompetent and make more money for fewer customers.
From a call quality standpoint it should be a boost for rural customers!
From a call quality standpoint it should be a boost for rural customers!
ccareatatt said:...
It sucks for the employees... yet again adding another million customers with the same amount of customer care reps to handle the calls... wait times will be even longer! Mediocre pay for the wireless side while t
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My hold times usually aren't bad at all when I call customer service, which fortunatly isn't very often.
And off goes another roaming partner
Pretty soon at&t will have no roaming partners left because they own them all?
Actually, who's still left? Is Edge Wireless still around?
Actually, who's still left? Is Edge Wireless still around?
No, they bought out Edge. There's only a few GSM carriers left after this buyout. T-Mobile being the largest besides AT&T. There's also Einstein PCS, Kankakee Cellular, Cellular Properties, and a few other small ones.
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Puerto Rico CDMA
So, what will be done about the Centennial network in Puerto Rico?
Centennial uses CDMA in Puerto Rico, and even though it won't be very hard to convert them to GSM/UMTS, it will be pretty significant, as there will be only two significant remaining CDMA carriers in Puerto Rico (Sprint and Open Mobile). Verizon has sold their Puerto Rico network and customers to America Movil and now they operate under the Claro brand. Claro has been gradually converting from CDMA to GSM/UMTS.
Centennial uses CDMA in Puerto Rico, and even though it won't be very hard to convert them to GSM/UMTS, it will be pretty significant, as there will be only two significant remaining CDMA carriers in Puerto Rico (Sprint and Open Mobile). Verizon has sold their Puerto Rico network and customers to America Movil and now they operate under the Claro brand. Claro has been gradually converting from CDMA to GSM/UMTS.
No more worries
Won't have to worry about using my phone too much when off of ATT network at work now. That's a nice upside. I guess so much for the unbranded Nokia N and E series phones, Excaliber, Touch, Touch Dual, and a few random SE phones...won't cut it with the Deathstar.
I have a fleeting hope that with Centennial's plans as they are, maybe ATT will decide to follow in the Canadian carriers' footsteps and make this budget brand with the free incoming minutes/texts deal. Doubt it, but it'd be nice to see.
I have a fleeting hope that with Centennial's plans as they are, maybe ATT will decide to follow in the Canadian carriers' footsteps and make this budget brand with the free incoming minutes/texts deal. Doubt it, but it'd be nice to see.
Small carriers do things like that in an attempt to make up for the shortcomings of their network. Once a company gets a lot of customers, and has a giant network to support, those things are no longer cost effective.
