SunCom
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SunCom Wireless, Inc. | |
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Type | Public OTCBB: SWSH |
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Founded | 1999 |
Headquarters | Berwyn, PA |
Key people | Michael E. Kalogris, Chairman & CEO Eric Haskell, Executive VP & CFO |
Industry | Wireless Services |
Products | GSM, GPRS, TDMA, Text messaging, Picture messaging |
Revenue | $826.16 million USD |
Operating income | ($501.25 million) USD |
Net income | ($496.81 million) USD |
Employees | 1,959 |
Website | www.suncom.com |
SunCom is a wireless carrier that has operated in the southeastern United States since 1999 and in parts of the Caribbean since 2004. SunCom provides digital wireless communications services to more than 1,000,000 customers, employs more than 1,900 people and offers international, national, and regional calling plans.
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[edit] History
Originally founded in January 1999 as Triton PCS Holdings, the company has gone through many deals with other celluar carriers. In December 2004, SunCom acquired 29,139 customers from Cingular Wireless as part of a deal of exchanging towers. In March 2005, SunCom sold 169 cell towers in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Puerto Rico to Global Signal Acquisitions. SunCom formed an agreement with Global Signal Acquisitions in June 2005 to lease tower space that they subsequently sold. In October 2005, SunCom agreed to sell the 29,139 customers from the deal in 2004 back to Cingular. [1][2]
[edit] Cellular services
SunCom's operations provide service across North Carolina, South Carolina, northern Georgia, parts of eastern Tennessee, and southwest Virginia, as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Beginning in 2001, SunCom merged with AT&T Wireless that served states in the Great Lakes area including Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan. This was short lived and lasted only a year.
SunCom Wireless currently provides wireless service utilizing GSM. TDMA is the technology platform that SunCom originally used when it constructed its wireless network and began offering service in 1999. In 2003, the company began overlaying GSM along with its associated GPRS technology, which has been available across SunCom's footprint since June 2004. GSM/GPRS offers more advanced wireless capabilities including data and video transmission.
Suncom Wireless operates in two separate and distinct regional areas: one in the Southeast U.S. and one in the Caribbean.
[edit] Southeast U.S. operations
The company's Southeast operations provide service across North and South Carolina, northern Georgia and parts of eastern Tennessee, and southwest Virginia. SunCom owns wireless licenses in the "28 Basic Trading Areas" as defined by the Federal Communications Commission which covers SunCom Wireless's southeast region. These licenses include the major metropolitan areas of Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, and Charleston and in aggregate encompass a population of over 14 million people.
SunCom Wireless completed the migration of it's remaining TDMA Customer Base to GSM on September 30, 2006. SunCom Wireless only operates on the GSM platform now.
[edit] Caribbean operations
In the Caribbean, Suncom operates in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The company owns 3 wireless licenses covering this territory, which has a population of 4 million.
[edit] Competitors
SunCom competitors in order of United States customer totals:
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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Major network operators | |
Alltel · AT&T Mobility (Cingular) · Sprint Nextel · T-Mobile · Verizon Wireless | |
Minor and regional network operators | |
Cellular One · Cellular South · Centennial Wireless · Cincinnati Bell Wireless · Cricket Communications · Edge Wireless · MetroPCS · nTelos · Revol · SouthernLINC Wireless · SunCom · U.S. Cellular · Unicel | |
Mobile virtual network operator | |
7-Eleven Speak Out Wireless · Amp'd Mobile · BeyondMobile · Boost Mobile · Disney Mobile · Hawaiian Telcom · Helio · Jitterbug Wireless · Jump Mobile · Kajeet · Net10 Wireless · Qwest Wireless · TracFone · Virgin Mobile · XE Mobile |