Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (NASDAQ:SHEN), also known as Shentel has completed the acquisition of NTELOS Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:NTLS).
The acquisition was revealed in August 2015 and it finalization means Shentel will significantly increase the number of its wireless customers. The deal will also boost or solidify its relationship with Sprint Corp (NYSE:S). Ntelos has about 297,500 customers who will now be under Shentel. It will also continue serving roughly 291,000 customers on Sprint, meaning the deal will increase the number of clients more than twice the initial number.
Ntelos to be phased out
The Ntelos brand will no longer exist on account of the buyout, and the firm will now exist under the Sprint identity. Shentel claims that the services will not be affected, and customers do not need to respond with drastic action. The company is one of the largest partners of Sprint, and it registered more than 440,000 users in 2015. The firm has agreed to invest roughly $350 million as part of the buyout agreement, and it will set up new cell sites to boost the network coverage in the region covered by Ntelos’ network.
The deal also dictates that Ntelos customers will receive free access to the 4G LTE loaming network provided by Sprint. The firm will send out notifications to customers through their emails of messages to alert them of similar or better services that will be provided by Sprint. The have also been urged to pay special attention to the alerts because they contain details of how they will receive the services from Sprint.
The upgrades that will be provided are expected to offer wider coverage, faster speeds and stronger signals according to Shentel President and CEO, Christopher E. French. He stated that the company is committed to the investment as part of expanding the network to widen its reach. This has been regarded as the best news that Shentel customers have received, and it will, therefore, offer a lot of benefits to users not only from Ntelos but also to the existing Shentel users.
