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Previous RCC News

• VZW/RCC deal bogs down in political morass Lawmakers urge FCC to act fast on transaction 03/01/2008

  Verizon Wireless’ $2.67 billion play for Rural Cellular Corp. has turned intensely political, with Republican and Democratic lawmakers urging the Federal Communications Commission to rule soon on a deal whose review has been lengthy and controversial due to the potential impact on consumers in Vermont and elsewhere.

• AT&T And Verizon Agree To Wireless Asset Swap 12/04/2007

  Under the terms of the agreement, AT&T will acquire -- upon Verizon's acquisition of Rural Cellular Corporation -- some former Rural Cellular properties, including licenses, network assets and subscribers, in the Burlington, Vt. metropolitan service area and in rural service areas (RSAs) in New York (RSA-2), Vermont (RSA-1, RSA-2B1) and Washington (RSA-2, RSA-3).

• Vermont In The Way Of Verizons RCC Purchase

  There have been bigger wireless deals before the Federal Communications Commission this year, but perhaps none as controversial and potentially precedent-setting as its consideration of Verizon Wireless’ proposed $2.67 billion purchase of Rural Cellular Corp. as it affects one state of the many involved in the transaction: Vermont. Leading the charge to have the FCC block the deal or impose extensive conditions is Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has backing from business and public-interest organizations in the state.

• Feds Urge Delay On Wireless Merger

  Three federal agencies say they want to check out the national security, law enforcement and public safety implications before Verizon Wireless is allowed to swallow up the Unicel cellular phone company in 15 states.

• Senator Bernie Sanders Objects To Sale Of Unicel

  (From www.vpr.net) Senator Bernie Sanders is raising concerns about the plan by Verizon Wireless to buy Unicel. The two companies dominate Vermont’s cell phone market. And Sanders says Verizon would become a monopoly if it’s allowed to take over the smaller phone carrier. He’s asked federal regulators to place conditions on the sale to protect consumers.

• Vermont Attorney General To Review Verizon-Unicel Deal

  (From WCAX, Burlington) Attorney General William Sorrell says his office will review the proposed purchase by Verizon Wireless of Vermont's other dominant cell phone carrier, Unicel -- from an antitrust perspective.

• Vermont Ski Areas Depend On Unicel

  Vermonts Ski Areas depend on Unicel. Without Unicel, there will be no regular, essential or emergency cell phone communications at the ski areas to keep you safe as Unicels GSM service is the only one available.
  Smugglers Notch Depends On Unicel

FCC OKs Verizon Wireless purchase of Rural Cellular

August 4, 2008

The Federal Communications Commissions gave the green light to Verizon Wireless' $2.67 billion purchase of Rural Cellular Corp., with the transaction and a separate pending deal involving the No. 2 mobile-phone operator bringing to the forefront a number a key policy issues.

The FCC, like the Department of Justice previously, conditioned approval of the Verizon Wireless-RCC acquisition on the divestiture of six licenses in Vermont, New York and Washington.It is not yet clear where the divested spectrum will go.

While not a blockbuster deal by today's standards, the transaction became highly controversial and government review was lengthy because of competitive, roaming, consumer and other issues prominently raised by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and state agencies.

The two Democrats on the five-member, GOP-led FCC made specific reference to those issues in separate statements associated with their lukewarm backing of the Verizon Wireless-RCC tie-up.

“While I am always troubled by additional concentration in the wireless marketplace, these divestitures will improve competition in the affected areas (as compared to an unconditioned merger) and I am glad we require them," said Commissioner Michael Copps. "I think it is particularly important that Verizon will divest all of RCC’s spectrum, facilities and customers in Vermont to the nation’s largest GSM carrier — it will ensure that native Vermonters and visitors to the state who happen to have GSM phones will continue to be able use their handsets."

Copps comments seem to indicate that AT&T Mobility will be the new home for the GSM network that RCC operated in the Northeast, but there is still some question as to how much spectrum will be included in the spin off. Copps dissented to the FCC ruling's inclusion of 700 MHz spectrum to calculate the spectrum screen, an antitrust analytical tool that can trigger closer scrutiny of potential anticompetitive consequences in markets where combined wireless assets reach 95 megahertz or more. "The licenses won in our auction earlier this year will not even be available for use until February 2009 and it may be several years before it is ever used commercially by a majority of licensees," Copps stated. "As I have explained in earlier statements, we have already been cavalier in applying this altered spectrum screen to prior transactions and we ought not put the cart before the horse yet again in an effort to encourage still more consolidation in the wireless industry." Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein shared concerns flagged by Copps and Sanders. "I continue to have concerns, however, regarding the inclusion of the 80 [megahertz] of the 698-806 MHz spectrum band in the total amount of spectrum suitable for mobile telephony nationwide," stated Adelstein. "As I have cautioned before, the premature inclusion of this spectrum as part of our evaluation of the input market for spectrum and the potential competitive harms raises concerns regarding increased likelihood of competitive harm in certain overlapping markets. And with even more mergers on the horizon, we must be vigilant so as to protect consumers and ensure that the wireless market continues to be competitive."

The FCC and Justice Department are currently evaluating Verizon Wireless' proposed $28 billion acquisition of Alltel Communications L.L.C., a deal expected to further elevate competitive, roaming and spectrum policy issues and that could result in AT&T Mobility being dethroned as the No. 1 cellular operator in the United States.

The FCC’s approval is the final regulatory hurdle facing the Verizon Wireless-RCC transaction.

If you are wondering why Unicel is willing to sell their company to Verizon and essentially screw all their loyal customers like you and me, the answer is simple. MONEY! The greedy officers and stockholders of Unicel see big dollar signs in their eyes because they can make a large fortune by selling the company. They are selling Unicel for $2.67 BILLION Dollars. All of Unicels customers will suffer because of this. The worst part about this is that as customers of Unicel, we have no choice. It's either switch to Verizon Wireless or go without a cell phone. There are no other cell phone service providers in Vermont except for Unicel and Verizon. Sprint-Nextel has some service but it's spotty to non-existent outside of Burlington, Rutland and a few other bigger cities.