Cellular One is the trademarked brand name that licenses services (radio frequencies for telecommunications) used by several cellular service providers in the
United States. The brand was sold to Trilogy Partners by
AT&T in 2008 shortly after AT&T had completed its acquisition of
Dobson Communications. Cellular One was originally the trade name of one of the first mobile telephone service providers.
Several customers lost their promotion deals which included gift cards.
History
In 1977, the American Radio Telephone Service and
Motorola formed Cellular One to offer services to the
Baltimore/
Washington, D.C., area. Cellular service began in the Baltimore/DC area in December 1983.[1]
In July 1986, it was announced that
Metromedia Inc. would sell its 55 percent stake in Cellular One to
Southwestern Bell.[2] Southwestern Bell later joined into a partnership with
McCaw Communications and Vanguard Cellular Systems called Cellular One Group, which the companies stated would help create a unified cellular network.[3] Cellular One Group was eventually opened to include all A-side providers. Under the US
AMPS allocation, A-side providers were independent wireless operators, while B-side providers were usually affiliates of the local landline telephone company.[4] By 1995, Cellular One affiliates had over 5 million customers and affiliates' towers that served approximately 69% of the US population.[5] AT&T purchased McCaw Cellular in 1994; shortly thereafter, AT&T renamed the former McCaw providers "AT&T Wireless" and dropped out of the partnership.
Western Wireless joined the partnership in 1999, and in 2001, the Cellular One group name became the sole property of Western Wireless.[citation needed]
The Cellular One brand name was also used by
Dobson Cellular in various rural markets in the
continental US and in
Alaska. In December 2005, Dobson purchased the rights to the Cellular One name from Alltel. However, their services were completely unrelated. Dobson used a
TDMA and
GSM network; Western Wireless used a
GSM,
AMPS,
TDMA and
CDMA network. As of 15 November 2007, Dobson was acquired by
AT&T Inc., except several areas still operated under the Cellular One brand name.[clarification needed] The Cellular One brand was sold to Trilogy Partners as a result of the terms of the acquisition agreement.
Regional markets that operate under the Cellular One brand name
Market
Name
Web site
Holding company
Owners
Notes
Northeastern
Arizona, Northwestern
New Mexico, Southern Colorado, and Southern Utah
Price Communications Wireless (Bay County FL, Southern GA including Macon and Albany, Southern AL including Dothan and Montgomery, and southern SC) purchase completed in August 2002[14]
Alabama Wireless, Inc. (Cellular One of Northern Alabama) Purchased January 2002[citation needed]
Contel Cellular/GTE Mobilnet (operated under the Cellular One name in most of
Tennessee, north-west
Georgia, northern
Alabama, and north central
Kentucky; dropped the Cellular One name and switched to the
GTE Wireless name in the late 1990s)
Cell One Kansas City: Owned and operated by
Airtouch, morphed into Verizon at launch in 2000
Verizon properties Originally acquired by Alltel prior to the January 2009 merger
Cellular XL (Cellular One of Mississippi) Purchased December 2002 [citation needed]
HickoryTech Wireless (Cellular One of Mankato) Purchased by Western Wireless Jan. 2004
Western Wireless (Cellular One West - AZ, AR, CA, CO, IA, ID, KS, MN, MO, MT, ND, NE, NM, NV, OK, SD, TX, UT & WY) Purchased Jan. 2005
Virginia Cellular (CellOne Virginia) Purchased 2005
Cellular One of Amarillo Purchased April 2006
Cellular One of
Baton Rouge,
Louisiana (owned by the former
James Garvey's Radiofone of
Metairie, Louisiana, which SBC bought; divested by SBC to Alltel when SBC and BellSouth formed
Cingular because BellSouth already had a cellular system in Baton Rouge)
Partners acquired by AT&T
Unicel only in the states of VT, NY and WA. Other Unicel systems were acquired by Verizon.
Centennial Communications (operated under the Cellular One name in northern Indiana, Louisiana, southwest Michigan, and Mississippi; later dropped the Cellular One name and rebranded as Centennial Wireless; company acquired by AT&T in 2009 with most Mississippi and Louisiana assets divested to Verizon Wireless)
Santa Cruz Cellular Telephone Company, Santa Cruz County, CA (purchased by Dobson in the mid-1990s sold to AT&T in approximately 2002)-This was a key purchase for AT&T as only missing holes in O&O Northern California coverage were San Benito & Santa Cruz counties, owned then, by Dobson.
Easterbrooke Cellular, Elkins, WV- Purchased on January 3, 2008, to expand coverage in West Virginia
RFB Cellular, Inc (Cellular One of Northeast Michigan) — Purchased by Dobson Communications in December 2004[18]
Highland Cellular (
VA,
WV) — Purchased in October 2006 by American Cellular (a subsidiary of Dobson Communications)[19]
Cellular Communications of Puerto Rico, Inc (Cellular One Puerto Rico, also serves
U.S. Virgin Islands) — Acquired by SBC Communications and
Telmex for $814 million in 1999,[20][21] switched to the Cingular brand when SBC and BellSouth formed Cingular.[22]
Long Lines Wireless (Formerly Cellular One of Great Lakes of Iowa) - Acquired by AT&T July 2013
Edge Wireless (AT&T Affiliate merged into AT&T in April 2008). Edge Wireless served Northern California, Southern Oregon, Southeastern and Southcentral Idaho and Jackson, Wyoming.
Cellular One of East Central
Illinois (Cellular Properties Inc.), purchased in 2016.
Indigo Wireless (Formerly Cellular One of West Nebraska, and Cellular One of north central
Pennsylvania) Went out of business in 2023, sold its spectrum licenses to AT&T