AT&T, Verizon To Swap Rural Wireless Assets

AT&T, VERIZON TO SWAP RURAL WIRELESS ASSETS
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Elena Malykhina]
U.S. carriers AT&T and Verizon on Tuesday announced an agreement to swap their wireless assets, following the carriers' acquisitions of smaller rural providers. The agreement gives AT&T permission to acquire licenses, network assets, and subscribers that Verizon gained in its purchase of Rural Cellular Corp. in the Burlington, Vt., metropolitan service area and in rural service areas in New York, Vermont, and Washington. AT&T said it also will gain a cellular license from Verizon in Kentucky. On the other side of the deal, Verizon gets permission to acquire from AT&T some former Dobson Communications licenses, network assets, and subscribers in Kentucky. Additionally, Verizon will receive 10 MHz of Personal Communications Service spectrum for wireless services in an unspecified number of markets. The practice of gaining spectrum in rural markets through acquisitions has become increasingly of interest to large wireless carriers as a way of expanding their network coverage and gaining additional subscribers.
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