OKLAHOMA CITY-Dobson Communications Corp. announced that two of its subsidiaries have been designated as eligible telecommunications carriers (ETC) in rural areas of Alaska and Minnesota by the states’ respective regulatory commissions.
The carrier already has received written notification from the Regulatory Commission of Alaska that its Dobson Cellular Systems Inc. is now an ETC. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has already voted to approve the Dobson subsidiary American Cellular Corp. as an ETC and Dobson expects to receive paperwork confirming that decision within the next several weeks.
Dobson projects that it will receive roughly $30 million annually in federal universal service support as a result.
The carrier said it will spend the money on supporting and expanding cellular service in those areas.
“As we do not know the timing of the start of payments we will wait to change our model until after the company reports, but we see this as a very positive announcement for the company,” noted Bear Stearns telecommunications analyst Phil Cusick in a report on Dobson’s announcement.
Dobson’s stock surged more than 7 percent on the news to close at $7.30 last Friday.
