AT&T Wireless Services Inc. signed a definitive agreement with Rural Cellular Corp. to exchange wireless operations in three states and amend an existing roaming agreement that will provide AT&T Wireless customers broader network coverage. The agreement follows a similar network swap announced earlier this week between Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Dobson Communications Corp.
The agreement calls for Rural Cellular to transfer its operations in the Lincoln, Ore.-4 market, which currently supports 38,000 subscribers and covers 226,000 potential customers between Salem and Eugene, Ore., in exchange for AT&T Wireless’ operations in Tupelo and Columbus, Miss, and Dothan, Ala., which serve 16,000 subscribers and covers approximately 732,000 pops. Rural Cellular noted 545,000 pops from the acquired network are incremental and adjacent to its existing South Region.
In addition, Rural Cellular will also receive PCS licenses covering portions of its South, Midwest and Northwest regions covering 2.4 million total pops and 1.3 million incremental pops.
“The AT&T Wireless operations we acquire through this agreement expand our coverage areas in Alabama and Mississippi, and together with the newly acquired licenses, further our strategic objective of establishing a quality network presence in these territories,” said Richard Ekstrand, president and chief executive officer of Rural Cellular.
AT&T Wireless noted the roaming agreement will allow its GSM/GPRS customers access to Rural Cellular’s network in the Pacific Northwest, which is currently under development.
“This exchange fills in an important piece of our coverage map in the Pacific Northwest,” said Robert Stokes, senior vice president of business development at AT&T Wireless. “We continue to focus on expanding the coverage of our digital network in a continuing effort to reduce our roaming costs. Obtaining operations in this part of Oregon, from the coast to the Cascades, is a strategically significant part of this initiative.”
The Cingular/Dobson agreement called for Dobson to swap a Maryland cellular property in exchange for Cingular’s Northwest Michigan properties, minority interest in three wireless properties in Texas and Oklahoma and $23 million. The two carriers also said they would assist one another in the build out of their respective GSM/GPRS networks.
