nTelos shareholders have voted in favour of the company’s acquisition by fellow regional U.S. mobile operator Shenandoah Telecommunications (Shentel).
At the company’s annual meeting last week, 98% of stakeholders, together representing more than 69% of nTelos’ outstanding shares, backed the deal.
nTelos said the transaction is on track to close in early 2016, pending approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Upon completion, nTelos shareholders will receive $9.25 per share in cash.
Both Shentel and nTelos have separate wholesale partnerships with Sprint. Under the terms of the US$640 million deal, which was announced in August, nTelos customers will be transferred to a Sprint-branded service managed by Shentel, and the nTelos brand will cease to exist.
The nTelos sale will see Sprint gain 297,500 customers to its brand in the south eastern U.S., the vast majority of whom will be affiliate customers. Sprint will also gain a number of retail outlets, which will adopt the Sprint name but will be managed by Shentel, and it will also receive nTelos spectrum assets covering 5.4 million people.
At the same time, Shentel has inked a series of deals with Sprint to extend their relationship. Sprint will pay Shentel up to $252 million over a five-to-six-year period through a reduction in retained revenues for the additional spectrum, customers and value it will gain from the amended partnership.
