SunCom
Encyclopedia
SunCom Wireless Holdings, Inc. was a wireless carrier that operated in the Southeastern United States since 1999 and in parts of the Caribbean
since 2004. From the "About Us" section of the company's website:
As of the third quarter of 2007, SunCom was providing digital wireless communications services to approximately 1.1 million customers and employed more than 1,900 people. In February 2008, SunCom was acquired by T-Mobile USA, Inc.
, a subsidiary
of Deutsche Telekom
AG. The company traded on the NYSE
under the TPC ticker symbol.
In September 2008, the SunCom brand was phased out and rebranded under the T-Mobile name.
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.
On September 17, 2007, T-Mobile USA Inc. announced it would acquire SunCom for approximately $1.6 billion in cash and $800 million in assumed debt. The deal closed on February 22, 2008.
, South Carolina
, northern Georgia
, parts of eastern Tennessee
, central Arkansas
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.
As of 2007, SunCom Wireless provided wireless service utilizing the GSM standard and operating in the 1900MHz PCS frequency-band. Originally, SunCom utilized TDMA
as its technology platform when it constructed its wireless network in 1999 and began offering service. In 2003, the company began overlaying GSM, along with its associated GPRS technology, completing the upgrade by June 2004 and enabling access across SunCom's footprint. At the time, this was a significant upgrade from TDMA as GSM/GPRS offered more advanced wireless capabilities including data and video transmission.
Suncom Wireless operated in two separate and distinct regional areas: one in the Southeast U.S. and one in the Caribbean.
The company's Southeast operations provided service across North and South Carolina, eastern Georgia, northeastern Tennessee, and southwestern Virginia. SunCom owned wireless licenses in the "28 Basic Trading Areas" as defined by the FCC
which covered SunCom Wireless's southeast region. These licenses included the major metropolitan areas of Charlotte
, Greensboro
, Raleigh
-Durham
, and Charleston
and in aggregate encompass a population of over 14 million people.
SunCom Wireless completed the migration of its remaining TDMA Customer Base to GSM on September 30, 2006. In the final days of its operation, SunCom Wireless only operated on the GSM platform.
, SunCom operated in Puerto Rico
and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The company owned 3 wireless licenses covering this territory, which had a population of more than 4 million people.
Myrtle Beach Herald
Myrtle Beach, SC
2007- Best Wireless Provider
Kingsport, Tenn.
Best Wireless Provider
Myrtle Beach, S.C.
2006- Best Wireless Provider
Columbia, SC
Best Wireless Provider
Fayetteville, NC
Best Wireless Provider
Myrtle Beach, SC
2005- Best Wireless Provider
Fayetteville, NC
Best Wireless Provider
Charleston, SC
2004- Best Wireless Provider
Norfolk, VA
Best Wireless Provider
Roanoke, VA
Best Wireless Provider
Savannah, GA
Best Wireless Provider
Richmond, VA
Best Wireless Provider
Kingsport, TN
Best Wireless Provider
Virginia Beach, VA
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
since 2004. From the "About Us" section of the company's website:
- SunCom provides digital wireless communications services to more than 1 million subscribers in the markets with international, national and regional calling plans and access to the largest GSM network in the country.
As of the third quarter of 2007, SunCom was providing digital wireless communications services to approximately 1.1 million customers and employed more than 1,900 people. In February 2008, SunCom was acquired by T-Mobile USA, Inc.
T-Mobile USA
T-Mobile USA, Inc. is an American mobile-network operator, headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, that provides wireless voice, messaging and data services in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The company is the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the U.S. market with 33.73...
, a subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
of Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom AG is a telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is the largest telecommunications company in Europe....
AG. The company traded on the NYSE
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
under the TPC ticker symbol.
In September 2008, the SunCom brand was phased out and rebranded under the T-Mobile name.
History
Founded in January 1999 as Triton PCS Holdings by Mark Balfour, SunCom has gone through many deals with other cellular carriers. In December 2004, SunCom acquired 29,139 customers from Cingular WirelessCingular Wireless
AT&T Mobility LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T that provides wireless services to 100.7 million subscribers in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands...
as part of a deal of exchanging towers. In March 2005, SunCom sold 169 cell towers in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, and Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
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.
On September 17, 2007, T-Mobile USA Inc. announced it would acquire SunCom for approximately $1.6 billion in cash and $800 million in assumed debt. The deal closed on February 22, 2008.
Cellular services
SunCom's operations provided service across North CarolinaNorth Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, northern Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, parts of eastern Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, central Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
and southwest Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, as well as Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
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
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, and Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. This was short lived and lasted only a year.
As of 2007, SunCom Wireless provided wireless service utilizing the GSM standard and operating in the 1900MHz PCS frequency-band. Originally, SunCom utilized TDMA
Digital AMPS
IS-54 and IS-136 are second-generation mobile phone systems, known as Digital AMPS . It was once prevalent throughout the Americas, particularly in the United States and Canada. D-AMPS is considered end-of-life, and existing networks have mostly been replaced by GSM/GPRS or CDMA2000...
as its technology platform when it constructed its wireless network in 1999 and began offering service. In 2003, the company began overlaying GSM, along with its associated GPRS technology, completing the upgrade by June 2004 and enabling access across SunCom's footprint. At the time, this was a significant upgrade from TDMA as GSM/GPRS offered more advanced wireless capabilities including data and video transmission.
Suncom Wireless operated in two separate and distinct regional areas: one in the Southeast U.S. and one in the Caribbean.
Southeast U.S. operations
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
which covered SunCom Wireless's southeast region. These licenses included the major metropolitan areas of Charlotte
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
, Greensboro
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...
, Raleigh
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
-Durham
Durham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
, and Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
and in aggregate encompass a population of over 14 million people.
SunCom Wireless completed the migration of its remaining TDMA Customer Base to GSM on September 30, 2006. In the final days of its operation, SunCom Wireless only operated on the GSM platform.
Caribbean operations
In the CaribbeanCaribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, SunCom operated in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The company owned 3 wireless licenses covering this territory, which had a population of more than 4 million people.
Awards Received
2008- Cell Phone Company of the YearMyrtle Beach Herald
Myrtle Beach, SC
2007- Best Wireless Provider
Kingsport, Tenn.
Best Wireless Provider
Myrtle Beach, S.C.
2006- Best Wireless Provider
Columbia, SC
Best Wireless Provider
Fayetteville, NC
Best Wireless Provider
Myrtle Beach, SC
2005- Best Wireless Provider
Fayetteville, NC
Best Wireless Provider
Charleston, SC
2004- Best Wireless Provider
Norfolk, VA
Best Wireless Provider
Roanoke, VA
Best Wireless Provider
Savannah, GA
Best Wireless Provider
Richmond, VA
Best Wireless Provider
Kingsport, TN
Best Wireless Provider
Virginia Beach, VA