AT&T Mobility ended a roaming agreement with regional wireless operator Cellular One of East Texas that allowed the national carrier’s customers to use 26 Cellular One cell sites in eastern Texas near the Louisiana border.
“This is one of those business decisions that we made in part because, as we have built out our own network around the country, the need for roaming partners is sometimes diminished because of the increasing ubiquity of our network,” said AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel, who confirmed that the company no longer has a roaming agreement with Cellular One of East Texas to allow AT&T customers to roam onto the smaller carrier’s network.
“The decision to take these sites away from Cingular customers was 100% up to Cingular,” said Darrin Gifford, market director for Cellular One of East Texas. “We were legally obligated to make the changes they requested. The good news is that Cellular One customers are not affected by this decision . (and) will continue to receive the same or better coverage than they originally subscribed to.”
The change does not affect Cellular One customers’ ability to roam onto AT&T’s national network.
Cellular One of East Texas was formed as part of the divestiture requirements for the former Cingular Wireless L.L.C.’s acquisition of the former AT&T Wireless Services Inc.
