Cellular One


Cellular One is the trademarked brand name that licenses services 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.

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.
In July 1986, it was announced that Metromedia Inc. would sell its 55 percent stake in Cellular One to Southwestern Bell. 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. 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. By 1995, Cellular One affiliates had over 5 million customers and affiliates' towers that served approximately 69% of the US population. 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.

Western Wireless

Western Wireless operated under the Cellular One brand prior to being purchased by Alltel in August 2005.

Dobson

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 November 15, 2007, Dobson was acquired by AT&T Inc., except several areas still operated under the Cellular One brand name. 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

MarketNameWeb siteHolding companyOwnersNotes
Northeastern Arizona, Northwestern New Mexico, Southern Colorado, and Southern UtahCellular One of North East ArizonaSmith Bagley Inc.Elizabeth Frawley Bagley and childrenPartner with Tier 1 carriers to offer Nationwide coverage

Former Cellular One partners

Partners that went out of business without acquisition of itself or its assets

Verizon properties Originally acquired by Alltel prior to the January 2009 merger
  • Cellular XL Purchased December 2002
  • HickoryTech Wireless Purchased by Western Wireless Jan. 2004
  • Western Wireless Purchased Jan. 2005
  • Virginia Cellular Purchased 2005
  • Cellular One of Amarillo Purchased April 2006
  • Cellular One of Baton Rouge, Louisiana

    Partners acquired by AT&T

  • Unicel only in the states of VT, NY and WA. Other Unicel systems were acquired by Verizon.
  • AT&T Wireless
  • Cingular Wireless
  • Vanguard Cellular
  • BellSouth Cellular
  • Centennial Communications
  • Santa Cruz Cellular Telephone Company, Santa Cruz County, CA -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
  • Dobson Communications acquisitions
  • * PriCellular — Acquired by American Cellular in March 1998
  • * American Cellular — Purchased August 2003
  • * RFB Cellular, Inc — Purchased by Dobson Communications in December 2004
  • * Highland Cellular — Purchased in October 2006 by American Cellular
  • Cellular Communications of Puerto Rico, Inc — Acquired by SBC Communications and Telmex for $814 million in 1999, switched to the Cingular brand when SBC and BellSouth formed Cingular.
  • Cellular One of Lake Charles, Louisiana
  • San Luis Obispo County, California — Sold to AT&T, service ends January 17, 2011.
  • Long Lines Wireless - Acquired by AT&T July 2013
  • Edge Wireless. Edge Wireless served Northern California, Southern Oregon, Southeastern and Southcentral Idaho and Jackson, Wyoming.
  • Cellular One of East Central Illinois, purchased in 2016.
  • Indigo Wireless Went out of business in 2023, sold its spectrum licenses to AT&T