Verizon Wireless and Vodafone has completed its purchase of Rural Cellular Corporation, doing business as Unicel, for $2.66 billion in cash and assumed debt. The acquisition will expand Verizon Wireless’ network coverage to many rural markets around the country and increases the company’s customers by more than 625,000.
The purchase will increase Verizon Wireless’ licensed coverage area by 4.7 million people, and will add licenses covering markets in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Alabama, Mississippi, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Idaho, Washington and Oregon.
Verizon Wireless will begin today to serve customers in Rural Cellular markets that will be merged with Verizon Wireless’ operations. The company will continue to use the Unicel brand for the next several months, as it works to integrate networks, and deploy CDMA technology and high-speed wireless broadband service. Verizon Wireless will maintain Rural Cellular’s existing GSM networks to continue serving the roaming needs of other GSM carriers’ customers.
In addition, it is expected that Rural Cellular’s markets in southern Minnesota and western Kansas will be divested as a result of the regulatory approval process for Verizon Wireless’ proposed purchase of Alltel Corporation. Consequently, those markets also will continue to be served under the Unicel brand, and will not be integrated into Verizon Wireless. Wireless service for Unicel customers in the markets named above – Vermont, New York, Kansas, and parts of Washington and Minnesota – will remain unchanged.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Verizon Wireless paid $45 in cash for each share of Rural Cellular’s common stock for a total common equity price of approximately $764 million on a fully diluted basis. Verizon Wireless announced its agreement to acquire Rural Cellular in July 2007, pending regulatory approval. The FCC approved the transaction earlier this month.
