Regional telecommunications provider CenturyTel Inc. said that network coverage issues have delayed its plans to begin offering wireless services using Cingular Wireless L.L.C.’s network under a mobile virtual network operator arrangement. CenturyTel noted that it was trialing the service with Cingular in a pair of markets during the first quarter, but the coverage issues could force the company to look for a different wireless partner.
CenturyTel still plans to have a wireless play, but is considering whether to use Cingular or look for a new wireless carrier.
“You’re not going to have as good a coverage in rural America, of course, as you do in urban areas, but it’s primarily carrier-related we believe in the issues we are dealing with,” said Glen Post, CenturyTel chairman and chief executive officer.
Cingular did not immediately return calls for comment.
CenturyTel previously announced plans to begin offering customers a wireless voice and text-messaging service as part of a bundled package. The service was expected to launch in select markets by the end of last year with CenturyTel handling all billing and customer care needs.
The agreement would have inserted wireless back into CenturyTel’s portfolio more than two years after it sold its wireless properties that served nearly 800,000 subscribers in six states to Alltel Corp. for $1.65 billion. The company said at the time that the divestiture along with an access-line purchase from Verizon Communications Inc. positioned the company as the “premier pure-play rural local exchange provider in the industry.”
Cingular currently has several reseller arrangements as well as an MVNO agreement with 7-Eleven, which recently expanded the scope of its offering to include 38 geographical areas covering more than 4,400 retail locations in 17 states and the District of Columbia.
