Centennial Communications Corp. said it completed a previously announced purchase of 10 megahertz of PCS spectrum from AT&T Wireless Services Inc. covering approximately 4.1 million potential customers contiguous to its operations in Michigan and Indiana for $19.5 million. The company also announced the completion of its sale of the Indianapolis and Lafayette, Ind., licenses it acquired from AWS to Verizon Wireless for $24 million in cash.
Centennial noted that following the transactions, it gained licenses covering approximately 2.2 million incremental pops and $4.5 million in cash. The licenses kept by Centennial include Anderson and Muncie, Ind., and Lansing and Grand Rapids, Muskegan and Saginaw-Bay City, Mich.
The company said it plans to spend $35 million to build out a portion of the newly acquired licenses covering 1.4 million pops by the end of next year and it expects to report $10 million in start-up adjusted operating income losses related to the construction during the next two years.
“This targeted expansion substantially improves our competitive advantage and Midwest footprint, while leveraging the strength of our brand and superior customer experience,” said Michael Small, chief executive officer of Centennial. “The new territory is an attractive growth opportunity in its own right and enables us to better market our services to more of our existing footprint.”
