Shentel

Shentel, officially Shenandoah Telecommunications Company, is a publicly traded telecommunications company headquartered in Edinburg, Virginia. It operates a digital wireless and wireline network in rural Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.[4]

Shenandoah Telecommunications Company
TypePublic
NASDAQ: SHEN
S&P 600 Component
Russell 2000 Component
IndustryTelecommunications
Founded1902[1]
Headquarters
Edinburg, Virginia
,
USA
ServicesLocal and long-distance telephone service, cable television, Internet access, wireless Internet access, digital phone, fiber-optic Internet, wholesale
Revenue $612 million (2017)[2]
$46.5 million (2017)[2]
$-6.995 million (2016)[2]
Number of employees
1200 [3]
Websitewww.shentel.com

Shentel operates its wireless division as a T-Mobile (formerly Sprint) affiliate,[5] serving 1,006,874 subscribers.[2]

History

Shentel was founded in January 1902 as the Farmers' Mutual Telephone System of Shenandoah County (FMTS).[6] This was one of a number of Farmers' Mutual telephone systems established in rural areas of the United States. The company's initial goal was to bring telephone service to rural residents of Shenandoah County, VA.[7] In 1960 the name changed to Shenandoah Telephone Company, then in 1981 to Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (Shentel).[4] The company launched cable TV service and a fiber optic network in the 1980s. In 1984 Shentel added mobile and paging services. In 1990 Shentel launched Shenandoah Cellular, the first company in Virginia to offer cellular service to a rural area. Internet service was made available to Shentel customers in 1994.[4]

In the 2000s Shentel began to expand its cable footprint - purchasing cable assets from Rapid Communications in Virginia and West Virginia in 2008,[8] and acquiring JetBroadband in southern Virginia and southern West Virginia in 2010.[9] Later in 2010, Shentel purchased two small cable systems from Suddenlink Communications (one in West Virginia, the other in Maryland).[10]

In May 2016, Shentel finished acquiring its competitor Ntelos[11] for 640 million dollars.[12] acquiring 297,500 subscribers. The deal also transferred an additional 291,000 subscribers from Sprint in exchange for Ntelos spectrum,[13][14] making Shentel the sixth largest public wireless company in the United States.[4]

In February 2019, Shentel announced the agreement to purchase Big Shandy Broadband, a Kentucky-based cable television, broadband Internet and phone provider.[15]

On August 27, 2020, T-Mobile USA has decided to purchase the wireless assets of the company.[16]

References
  1. "Shentel - Explore". www.shentel.com. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  2. "2017 annual report". www.sec.gov. Shenandoah Telecommunications Company. March 15, 2018. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
  3. "SHEN Profile | Shenandoah Telecommunications C Stock - Yahoo Finance". Finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  4. "Shentel - History". www.shentel.com. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  5. "Sprint affiliate Shentel buys fellow wholesale partner nTelos for $640M". FierceWireless. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  6. "Copy for the Governor". The Richmond Dispatch. Richmond, VA. January 13, 1902. p. 3. A great many telephone charters are coming in to the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth to be recorded….received yesterday…Farmers’ Mutual Telephone System of Shenandoah County.
  7. "Shentel Facebook page - Company Milestones". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2017-11-08.
  8. "Shenandoah Telecommunications Company to Acquire Cable Assets in Virginia and West Virginia". www.shentel.com. 2008-08-06. Retrieved 2017-11-08.
  9. "Shentel Completes Acquisition of JetBroadband". www.shentel.com. 2010-08-09. Retrieved 2017-11-08.
  10. "Shenandoah Telecommunications Closes on Cable Acquisition". www.shentel.com. 2010-12-01. Retrieved 2017-11-08.
  11. "What you need to know about the Shentel, Ntelos merger". Whsv.com. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  12. "Sprint affiliate Shentel buys fellow wholesale partner nTelos for $640M". FierceWireless. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  13. Petska, Alicia. "Shentel completes acquisition of Ntelos | Virginia". roanoke.com. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  14. "Sprint and Shentel to Expand Affiliate Territory to Cover Former nTelos Area | Sprint Newsroom". Newsroom.sprint.com. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  15. "Shentel to acquire Eastern Kentucky telcom firm". Virginia Business. 2019-02-28. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
  16. https://www.fiercewireless.com/operators/t-mobile-to-buy-shentel-wireless-assets-but-price-remains-sticking-point


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