AT&T has agreed to sell its mobile telephone businesses in rural service areas in order to complete its purchase of rural wireless carrier, Dobson Communications Corporation of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Dobson Communications offers an advanced available array of wireless services, utilizing both TDMA and GSM/GPRS wireless technologies.
The acquisition includes Dobson Cellular Systems, Inc., doing business as Cellular One, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dobson Communications Corporation. AT&T must sell its current mobile telephone businesses in rural service areas in Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas, according to a government statement, in order for AT&T to comply with a consent decree issued by the U.S. Department of Justice. The consent decree is part of the D.O.J.’s approval of the Dobson sale to AT&T, which the Justice Department has valued at $2.8 billion.
Dobson Communications has approximately 1.5 million customers, and wireless phone services are becoming an important revenue driver for AT&T for both new and existing mobile phone subscribers.
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