First AT&T acquired Dobson, then Verizon Wireless bought Rural Cellular, and now Verizon Wireless has acquired yet another (albeit smaller) rural carrier's assets: Ramcell. The deal includes Ramcell's assets in Kentucky and Oregon, but apparently not its North Carolina assets. No financial deals were released about the deal.
The acquisition includes Ramcell's spectrum licenses, 51 cell sites and related operations. The spectrum licenses cover 300,000 people in Kentucky and 274,000 people in Oregon. No word on how many subscribers Verizon Wireless will add as a result of the deal. Verizon Wireless plans on converting Ramcell's TDMA network in Kentucky to CDMA with EV-DO Rev. A technology, which it should complete by mid-2008. Ramcell's Oregon network is already CDMA-based, but will still get an EV-DO Rev. A upgrade.
Ramcell's website announced that all store locations in the two states would close down by June 30th, 2007, however the carrier did provide instructions and locations for paying bills and adding minutes to prepaid plans. By presstime Verizon Wireless had not responded to inquiries about why Ramcell had closed its retail stores.
For more on the deal:
- read this press release