Centennial looks to approve AT&T merger

Centennial Communications will hold a meeting of stockholders on Feb. 24 to decide whether to approve the company's merger with AT&T.

AT&T announced it would purchase Centennial in November for $944 million, and with the assumption of Centennial's debt the total value of the deal is close to $2.8 billion. The purchase still has to gain regulatory approval, but it should net AT&T 1.1 million of Centennial's customers in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Great Lakes region and in the Gulf Coast.

The November move came on the heels of AT&T's decision to acquire the WiFi service provider Wayport, as well as the FCC's decision to approve Verizon Wireless' $28.1 billion acquisition of Alltel. That deal closed last week and Verizon is now the largest wireless operator in the United States, surpassing AT&T Mobility.

Centennial said it expects the merger to be closed by the second quarter of 2009.

For more:
- see this release [1]

Related Articles:
AT&T [2] buys Centennial for $944M
AT&T [3] acquires Wayport, boosts WiFi presence