AT&T to sell rural cellular assets to buy Dobson

Interesting. I have not herad much about this company. Are they foreign?

 

I don't think so. I don't know much about them, but I believe they make up what's left of the old CellularONE.

-Jay

 

Wirelessly posted (Walkguru's: Opera/8.01 (J2ME/MIDP; Opera Mini/3.1.8295/1716; en; U; ssr))

yeah they have been around here a long time.

 

CellularOne is a only a namesake that is for rent. CellularOne is one of the oldest names in the industry. Basically a mom and pop wireless company would rent the use of the name being its more known that lets say Uncle Bobs cellular. Kinda similiar to SBC using the old AT&T moniker. Dobson has been a Cellone user since the early 90's when Western Wireless owned the name. When Alltel bought Western the Feds made Alltel sell off the name and now Dobson official owns the name, so AT&T will probably have to sell off the name again.

Whoever owns the name recieves royalties from any other companies using the Cellular ONE name.

So technically there is no new or old Cellone just partner companies that use the name.
SBC ala Cingular bought a few old Cellone companies and so did the former ATTWS (Mccaw Cellular one)

Im assuming the AT&T sell off is due to overlaping 850 coverage similar to the Alltel and Midwest buyout.

 

here is some smaller companies using the CellularONE name.

CellularOne - The Coverage Leader
Cellular One

Cellular One Of East Central Illinois

cellular phone service - CellularOne.com - wireless phone services | AboutUs |

Here a fact that I always thought was odd. CellularONE companies do not have to carry the same technolgy, some are GSM some CDMA.

 

I guess that's where my confusion lies. I was an old CellularONE Washington/Baltimore customer and when Cingular formed they were one of the companies that were part of the original Cingular.

-Jay

 

The old AT&T wireless had its start from Cell One. Mccaw Cellular One were innovaters of their day and Craig Mccaw CEO went on to Western Wireless, Omnipoint, VoiceStream and started the GSM movement in the US and also got the Fledgling Fleetcall (NEXTEL) on its feet.

I work for the biggest Cell ONE operators and it was confusing for me when I first started.

Cingular is a bunch of little companies put into one. Ameritech mobile, SBC wireless, ATT, Dobson (soon) are just to name a couple.

Verizon also gobble up a few Cell ONe companies as well as GTE Mobility.

 

Here is another article on it:

AT&T to give up 7 markets, Cellular One brand to seal Dobson sale

The Justice Department said AT&T Inc. agreed to sell assets in seven rural markets and forgo rights to the Cellular One brand to win approval of the company’s $2.8 billion purchase of Dobson Communications Corp.

“The required divestitures will preserve competition for residents in rural areas in Kentucky, Oklahoma, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Texas and ensure that these consumers continue to enjoy the benefits of competition, such as lower prices and higher quality,” said Thomas Barnett, assistant attorney general in charge of the department’s antitrust division. AT&T is the largest cellphone carrier in the United States.

At the same time, however, the Justice Department today also filed in federal court a lawsuit to block the deal and a proposed consent decree. The consent decree addresses the department’s antitrust concerns, which would allow the transaction to go forward under those conditions. The U.S. district judge has to approve the decree.

The department said the “divestiture of the Cellular One brand and associated rights will ensure continued competition in two markets in Pennsylvania and Texas where a Cellular One licensee is the primary wireless competitor to AT&T. Without the divestiture, AT&T would have had the incentive and ability to harm competition by limiting and eliminating the Cellular One licensee’s ability to use the brand effectively.”

DoJ coordinated the review of the wireless deal with the Federal Communications Commission, which is expected shortly to approve the transaction with the same conditions.

AT&T to give up 7 markets, Cellular One brand to seal Dobson sale - RCR Wireless News

 

Nice to hear AT&T is hungry for the Dobson acqusition. It will really help them in my area as the network sharing agreement are no longer in affect, because of this I have no media net in most of bullhead city, and my go phone roams on T-Mobile.

 

I thought Sprint was the first one with GSM service, but they abandoned it for CDMA early on.

-Jay

 

Right - that was in the Wash/Balt metro area - it was called Sprint Spectrum when it was GSM as well, and my early VoiceStream phone displayed "Sprint" in the display (I think Omnipoint bought the network with VoiceStream's money as the two companies had already entered into a merger agreement, although the branding was always VS here, and now is the big pink T.)

 

Good to know, Sprint history is so diverse and they have had so many partners, buyout, affliates, name changes its hard to keep up with it.