Shentel announced an expansion of its agreement with Sprint that will add roughly 500,000 POPs to its footprint in the mid-Atlantic region.
The Sprint wholesale partner, which was formerly known as Shenandoah Telecommunications before rebranding, amended its agreement with the nation’s fourth-largest carrier to include customers in Parkersburg and Huntington, West Virginia, and in Cumberland, Maryland. The move increases Shentel’s presence to more than 6 million POPs and includes 20,000 Sprint and nTelos postpaid and prepaid customers who will become Sprint-branded affiliate customers managed by Shentel.
The company vowed to spend roughly $32 million to upgrade and expand its network in the new markets over the next three years. Once that expansion is complete it will open “multiple retail locations” in the area.
“We are pleased to be expanding our relationship with Sprint and are excited to be adding these new service areas that will enhance the experience for our customers and create value for our shareholders,” Shentel CEO Christopher French said in a press release.
Shentel, which is based in Virginia, closed on its $640 million acquisition of fellow Sprint wholesaler nTelos last year. The move more than doubled the size of Shentel's customer base to more than 1 million.
Shentel is publicly traded and was founded as a customer-owned telecom in 1902, as VirginiaBusiness.com recently reported. It is the sixth-largest wireless service provider in the country and also offers cable and fiber services.
Shentel said in November that its wireless revenue grew by $63.2 million, or 132%, year over year. That revenue contributed to an 84% increase in total revenue.