Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Plateau Telecommunications, Inc., has signed an agreement to sell Plateau Wireless assets to AT&T, pending FCC approval, according to a news release from Plateau.
The purchase includes Plateau Wireless’ cellular customers and related operations and assets throughout eastern New Mexico and West Texas and is expected to close later this year, the release said.
“This sale does not affect Plateau’s other lines of business such as cooperative landline service, fiber-to-the-home and business and residential services such as advanced IPTV, ultra-fast Internet connections, and other IP-based services,” the release stated.
Plateau officials did not immediately return phone calls seeking additional information.
Wireless operations are currently comprised of partnerships between Plateau, Yucca Telecom, Five Area Telephone Cooperative, South Plains Telephone Cooperative, Mid-Plains Rural Telephone Cooperative, and West Texas Rural Telephone, according to the release.
Plateau’s CEO, Tom Phelps, stated in the release: “Plateau is a very diverse telecommunications company. While the wireless part of the business has certainly been important to us, we are pleased to be in a position to focus more on our other quality telecommunication services provided through our extensive fiber network.”
Phelps said in 2012 that Verizon was purchasing its southwest New Mexico quadrant, which included portions of Roswell, Carlsbad, Artesia, and Hobbs and Ruidoso.
He said at the time that selling a piece of the business would give Plateau more cash to invest in upgrading services such as high-speed wireless.