AT&T bought Centennial Communications Corp for $944 million today in order improve AT&T’s coverage in the Midwest, Southeast, and Puerto Rico.
The purchase will add 1.1 million customers to AT&T’s 74.9 million base. The move follows Verizon’s purchase of Alltel last week.
Mobile providers are facing a plateau in subscribers due partially to the economic downturn. By purchasing smaller carriers for what amounts to considerably less than it would install cells and repeaters in the same areas, carriers are gaining paid subscribers without much investment. By grabbing midwestern and southern subscribers, both Verizon and AT&T are rolling out new network without installing hardware.
Centennial subscribers should be unaffected although they should move to AT&T’s billing system over time.
via Bloomberg
Any news on what this means for us Centennial folks?
The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval, Centennial’s stockholders approval and other customary closing conditions. Centennial’s largest stockholder, Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, has agreed to vote in support of this transaction. AT&T has offered Centennial’s customers, who choose to select smartphones, such as the BlackBerry Bold and AT&T LaptopConnect cards, free access to its Wi-Fi network. The transaction will enhance AT&T’s wireless coverage for customers in largely rural areas of the Midwest and Southeast United States and in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. AT&T will also be benefited from Centennial’s high-quality 850 MHz spectrum, which will improve service quality for AT&T customers in parts of Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio and Texas.
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Sarah
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does anyone know which companies are having a hiring freeze? I know SAP and MSFT. CISCO, and what else? is oracle one of them?
Dell
Centennial Service in Puerto Rico really suckz So it good they got bought by At&t, still Centennial is and ISP in PR and in combination with “University of Puerto Rico” they run “Internet2″
dude, you don’t know what you r talking about. CentennialPR has the best coverage, signal and voice clarity in PR. Actually AT&T pays Centennial for data services and antennas. Read n investigate first, then talk.
since Centennial is an ISP in PR, this could mean that u-verse could be a possibility in the future…one can only hope for the best :)
Centennial Service in Puerto Rico suckz So it good they got bought by At&t
rc
trading tennis blog
@zerock – I don’t think that would be soon in PR, since U-Verse is in 10Mbps and now 16Mbps and we are still in the low 4Mbps to 6Mbps. I hope one they we could have FiOS or something close.
For me I would survive with 10 to 15Mbps. But I am still in the 6Mbps (Legal Way)
seems like a good thing. consolidation is needed in the cellular space.
I’m unsure about the effectiveness of all these buy-ups but I suppose this is a smart move. I wonder what the overall bandwidth would be. Hopefully this increases some of AT&T’s weak spots throughout its coverage.
Much cheaper per subscriber than VZW is paying for Alltel!
Good to see mergers in current economic turmoil
http://vidsonly.blogspot.com
Maybe this will help with AT&T’s service problems in some areas of the midwest… I still experience days where text messages and voicemails are delivered hours late.
I am centennial for a reason. AT&T suckz where I live and they are to high. So I hope it does not change anything for us because I will drop my cell phone.
Hey! What about the free incoming calls and texts? I left AT&T . I do not want to go backwards. I agree with you.
dO WE STILL GET FREE INCOMEING TEXTES AND CALLS
Had not heard this news. I am an AT&T customer though.
Hey—big deal. AT&T is the RICHEST TELE-COMM in the world. Know what they are doing in HARTFORD CT to the old SNET/SBC employees? And, I don’t care if the employees are union, or not—AT&T goes out and buys companies –spending money like there’s no tomorrow, then they cry freaking POVERTY with their workers. Next year, the union contract is up for HARTFORD, and you betcha—AT&T will cut the benefits like crazy. And before all you people out there attack this-call it what you will, but when ANY COMPANY in the USA has almost a billion dollars to spend on aquiring another company and even more in reserve—yet, plays cutthroat with its own workers, that’s rape. Just remember it was the unions who brought you/us all—decent wages and family benefits. This country was built on the backs of the union worker–and AT&T is fat and rich. When a company can spend a reasonable amount of money to put back into their workers pockets—to give back—that would be the OLD American spirit. That is the thing we all need to do now, instead of hoarding money and cutting jobs and sending these long time/long held USA jobs — outside the USA or overseas–or outsourcing in other parts of the USA. It’s the thing these big companies SHOULD do, but will they? We’ll all have to hold our collective breath–and see. As for now, again, in Hartford, CT—the service for what was once —the PRIDE of the telecomm world—good old–LITTLE SNET—and run into the ground by AT&T. Careless, greedy, concerned only with the bottom line! Not surprised at all by this aquisition—AT&T is now posturing to sell off CT-land–that is, its old SNET operation. It’s running lean & mean and cutting OT. Who would every want AT&T service in the state? The service calls back up for 3 to 5 day waiting times, service men&women should be doing all the work HERE, but AT&T contracts out the work and then the work is done sub-par–and what people don’t know is that it’s not your old-friendly-KNOWLEDGEABLE SNET-AT&T man/woman on the job, it’s JOE-JOBBER-CONTRACTOR out who does crap work. Result again, is that AT&T’s customer service rating–once the HIGHEST In the nation for SNET-land–now–in the big dumper—thanks to the Corporate mindset–GREED & BLEED! Read this as a warning–AT&T is not in the charity business, no–they deserve to make a profit–like any other business. The question is, when is–enough, enough? AT&T will soon leave CT–that’s my prediction. They have no reason to stay–they’ve ruined the old SNET and raped and pillaged their workforce.
If AT&T can make some considerations for the existing contract holders, particularly if they want to upgrade to iPhone then that would be a better news than this.
i agree…i think if we have been paying for service with centennial and all, and we have service with them, it’s for a reason..so they should give us some incentive for being strong-armed into switching…like free phone upgrades or something…then i’d be satisfied.
We will probably see many mergers in the next 1-2 years… this is the current climate.
Any idea what happens with the current contracts that customers have? will AT&T espect it?
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AT and T is big but Verizon is becoming more and more of a threat. take a look at Jim Cramer’s interview with the CEO of Verizon:
http://www.equedia.com/blog/view.php/Jim-Cramer-Goes-In-Depth-on-Verizon-and-Talks-to-Verizon-CEO-Ivan-Seidenberg
I’m a Centennial customer in Indiana…so does this mean I’m now going to have the better At&t options, such as the iphone and other things only At&t offers? Or is nothing going to change for Centennial customers? That would be horrible because I hate Centennial but it’s the only provider that works in the rural area I live in.
My thoughs exactly! I’ve wanted an iPhone (or other SmartPhone alternatives), but the choices at Centennial are very limited. When will we see a “trickle-down effect” where phones like the iPhone are available to us Centennial users?
will centenial cust be m2m with att cell phone users
Does this means that i am now at&t cuzz i was centennial few months ago. i have a 2 year contract with centennial since november. does this get affected, and last, can i change my cellphone for the iphone in the middle of my contract?