Did ATT buy out centennial wireless?

Answer 1

Centennial Wireless, the cellular phone company with major operations in Fort Wayne, has been purchased by AT&T. It can be expected that AT&T will squeeze savings out of the acquisition over the coming year. It will be a priority for area economic development officials to preserved as much of Centennial's presence as possible. The sale is expected to close in the second quarter of 2009. Clayton Harrison reports for Bloomberg News: AT&T, Inc. fighting Verizon Wireless for control of the U.S. wireless market, agreed to buy Centennial Communications Corp. for $944 million to add mobile- phone subscribers. Centennial stockholders will receive $8.50 a share in cash, more than double the closing price of $3.84 today. The transaction will add 1.1 million wireless customers and enhance AT&T's coverage in the Midwest, Southeast and Puerto Rico, Dallas-based AT&T said today in a statement. AT&T and Verizon are expanding through acquisitions as subscriber growth slows -- more than four-fifths of the U.S. population already has a mobile phone. When Verizon completes its purchase of Alltel Corp., it will leapfrog AT&T as the biggest U.S. carrier. Verizon, co-owned by Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group Plc, will have almost 85 million subscribers when combined with Alltel. AT&T had 74.9 million wireless customers at the end of last quarter. [ ... ] The purchase will fill holes in AT&T's coverage in areas where its subscribers currently roam on Centennial's network, AT&T said. The transaction, due to close in the second quarter of 2009, will have ``minimal'' negative effect on earnings and cash flow, AT&T said. [ ... ] In addition to its wireless network, Centennial offers high-speed internet service and phone lines to business customers in Puerto Rico. Those operations will help AT&T serve corporate customers there, the company said.