Verizon Wireless acquired Rural Cellular Corporation

Posted July 31, 2007 at 06:24 PM by Robert Nelson

Section: Communications, Cellular Providers, Broadband Cards, Mobile

Verizon Wireless has purchased Rural Cellular Corporation for $2.67 billion in both cash and assumed debt. As of March 31, 2007 Rural Cellular had just about 716,000 customers across Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, Alabama, Mississippi, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Kansas, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. This deal will bring Verizon’s customer base up to more than 700,000 customers. The sale is officially expected to close in the first half of 2008.

Rural Cellular currently uses both CDMA and GSM technology across its customer base. Verizon Wireless has said it plans to deploy CDMA service into Rural Cellular’s GSM markets and convert all customers over to CDMA. They have also stated that the current GSM networks will remain in place to help serve the roaming needs for other GSM carriers.

Read [SlashPhone]