Verizon wraps up acquisition of Rural Cellular
by Donald Melanson 
posted Aug 7th 2008 at 11:21AM
It's taken more than a year, but Verizon has just officially announced that it has completed its purchase of Rural Cellular, which you may also know by its business name, Unicel. This latest announcement follows a conditional approval from the FCC earlier this week, which required one of the two companies to sell licenses in six markets in order to "improve competition" -- a compromise Verizon seems to have been more than willing to accept. All told, Verizon will be forking over $2.66 billion in cash and assumed debt for the company, which will increase its customer base by more than 625,000, and expand its coverage area by 4.7 million people, including markets in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Alabama, Mississippi, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Idaho, Washington and Oregon.
Filed under: Verizon Wireless
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dan @ Aug 7th 2008 11:45PM
If Verizon advertises having the best coverage in the US, why does it need to acquire regionally run wireless companies? It can't be for more coverage area.
Workin Man @ Aug 8th 2008 1:53AM
It's to acquire more licenses to operate in more rural places where licenses weren't acquired when VZW was formed to give them a national option over a rural carrier.
SickNic @ Aug 8th 2008 2:27PM
VZW may have the best coverage in urban locations, but when it comes to rural areas, they were lacking. This just exapnds their coverage, giving even better coverage. Just because they labeled themselves as the best coverage in America, doesn't mean they had the best coverage everywhere in America. This purchase will get them one step closer though, and makes good sense in the business.
John @ Oct 30th 2008 1:11PM
I am a national IT manager for a medium sized business and my company does business all over the lower 48 states. We HAD to go with Verizon because it has it is has by far the best rural coverage, but that still does not mean that it has ALL rural coverage. My company does a lot of business, including on/near many military installations/bases and often times no other company comes even close to the coverage Verizon has to offer. Mind you - my personal cell is AT&T only because I need GSM for going overseas and for the rare occasion AT&T has domestic coverage where Verizon does not...