Leap Wireless subsidiary Cricket agreed to pay $30 million for Ha...
Leap Wireless subsidiary Cricket agreed to pay $30 million for Hargray Communication’s wireless business, it said Wednesday. Cricket will acquire Hargray Wireless, including its 15 MHz spectrum license, wireless network and “the majority” of its customer base. Hargray’s wireline…
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and wireless bundled customers will remain with Hargray but receive Cricket service under a wholesale arrangement to be made once the parties close the acquisition, Cricket said. Cricket will bring service to Savannah, Ga., and Hilton Head, S.C. The market additions “complement our newly launched Charleston, S.C., market as well as our existing Carolinas cluster,” said Cricket CEO Doug Hutcheson. Cricket expects the deal to close the first half of 2008, subject to FCC and other approvals, it said. The acquisition furthers Leap’s overall “cluster strategy,” said Current Analysis’ William Ho. “The most recent example can be seen in the North Carolina coverage area where Leap linked… Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh, thereby minimizing roaming,” he said. The Hargray integration should “play out similarly, as Savannah and Hilton Head are all coastal and adjacent.” Network integration should be easy since Leap and Hargray are both CDMA carriers, he added.