AT&T Acquires Centennial in $2.8 Billion Deal

AT&T said late Friday that it has agreed to purchase regional wireless and wireline communications company Centennial Communications for $2.8 billion in cash and assumed debt. The deal will broaden AT&T's wireless coverage especially in rural areas of the country -- many of Centennial's 1.1 million wireless customers are located in largely rural locales in the Midwest and Southeast portions of the country as well as in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. AT&T, in contrast, has about 75 million wireless customers in the US. AT&T said in a statement that it hopes to close the deal by the end of the second quarter of next year.