Shenandoah Telecommunications Company, doing business as Shentel, 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]
 | |
| Shentel | |
| Company type | Public |
| Nasdaq: SHEN S&P 600 component Russell 2000 component | |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 1902[1] |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
| Services | Local 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] |
| Website | shentel |
History
editShentel was founded in January 1902 as the Farmers' Mutual Telephone System of Shenandoah County (FMTS).[5] 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.[6] 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,[7] and acquiring JetBroadband in southern Virginia and southern West Virginia in 2010.[8] Later in 2010, Shentel purchased two small cable systems from Suddenlink Communications (one in West Virginia, the other in Maryland).[9]
In May 2016, Shentel finished acquiring its competitor Ntelos[10] for 640 million dollars.[11] acquiring 297,500 subscribers. The deal also transferred an additional 291,000 subscribers from Sprint in exchange for Ntelos spectrum,[12][13] 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.[14]
On August 27, 2020, T-Mobile USA decided to purchase the wireless assets of the company.[15]
In October 2023, Shentel announced their acquisition of The Chillicothe Telephone Company (dba Horizon Telcom) and its assets; thus expanding their "Glo Fiber" branded fiber network into the South-Eastern Ohio area. [16]
In March 2024, Shentel agreed to the sale of its cell tower portfolio to Vertical Bridge, reportedly the largest private owner of communications towers in the US, for $310.3 million in cash.[17]
References
edit- ^ "Shentel - Explore". www.shentel.com. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
- ^ a b c "2017 annual report". www.sec.gov. Shenandoah Telecommunications Company. March 15, 2018. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
- ^ "SHEN Profile | Shenandoah Telecommunications C Stock - Yahoo Finance". Finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
- ^ a b c d "Shentel - History". www.shentel.com. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Shentel Facebook page - Company Milestones". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2017-11-08.
- ^ "Shenandoah Telecommunications Company to Acquire Cable Assets in Virginia and West Virginia". www.shentel.com. 2008-08-06. Retrieved 2017-11-08.
- ^ "Shentel Completes Acquisition of JetBroadband". www.shentel.com. 2010-08-09. Retrieved 2017-11-08.
- ^ "Shenandoah Telecommunications Closes on Cable Acquisition". www.shentel.com. 2010-12-01. Retrieved 2017-11-08.
- ^ "What you need to know about the Shentel, Ntelos merger". Whsv.com. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
- ^ "Sprint affiliate Shentel buys fellow wholesale partner nTelos for $640M". FierceWireless. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
- ^ Petska, Alicia. "Shentel completes acquisition of Ntelos | Virginia". roanoke.com. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
- ^ "Sprint and Shentel to Expand Affiliate Territory to Cover Former nTelos Area | Sprint Newsroom". Newsroom.sprint.com. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
- ^ "Shentel to acquire Eastern Kentucky telcom firm". Virginia Business. 2019-02-28. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
- ^ "T-Mobile to buy Shentel wireless assets but price remains sticking point". 27 August 2020.
- ^ "Shenandoah Telecommunications Company to Acquire Horizon Telcom". Shenandoah Telecommunications Co. October 24, 2023.
- ^ Katherine Schulte (2024-03-01). "Shentel to sell cell towers portfolio for $310.3M". Virginia Business. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
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