AT&T buys Centennial for $944 million

AT&T has bought Fort Wayne, Ind.-based regional phone carrier Centennial Communications Corp. for $944 million in cash.

The deal, announced late Friday, will add 1.1 million wireless subscribers to Atlanta-based AT&T Mobility and beef up wireless coverage for customers in rural areas of the Midwest and Southeast as well as in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the company said in a statement.

Centennial stockholders will receive $8.50 a share, and the transaction is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals. AT&T said it hopes to secure approvals by the second quarter.

AT&T Mobility is currently the nation’s No. 1 wireless carrier in the United States, reporting 74.9 million wireless customers at the end of last quarter. The company will lose top billing, however, once Verizon completes its purchase of Alltel, giving the combined companies almost 85 million subscribers.

Telecom analyst Jeff Kagan said the wireless industry is consolidating, and more of these deals will be done next year.

“There’s not that many standalone, independent wireless networks left, and most of them are very small,” he said.