Shentel, the Edinburg, Va. Based rural telco holding company, announced the acquisition of cable assets from Suddenlink. The acquisition is for cable systems serving the communities of Salem, West Virginia and Oakland, Maryland and includes 7,000 home passings. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The move illustrates an ongoing interest by Shentel to acquire rural cable properties. They acquired rural cable operator Jet Broadband in April of this year, adding approximately 114K homes passed. Prior to that, Shentel also acquired Rapid Communications’ cable operations in 2008. It’s safe to say Shentel sees some value in rural cable assets.
Shentel is a diversified holding company with cable, telco, and wireless operations. The majority (70%) of its 2009 $160 million revenue came from its wireless operation, which is the only remaining public Sprint PCS affiliate. As of 12/31/09, Shentel listed 223k wireless subscribers. Its cable assets generated 10% of its 2009 revenue.