 | |
| Shentel | |
| Company type | Public |
| Nasdaq: SHEN S&P 600 component Russell 2000 component | |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 1902; 123 years ago (1902)[1] |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
| Services | Local and long-distance telephone service, cable television, Internet access, wireless Internet access, digital phone, fiber-optic Internet, wholesale |
| Revenue |  $612 million (2017)[2] |
| $46.5 million (2017)[2] | |
 $-6.995 million (2016)[2] | |
Number of employees | 1200[3] |
| Website | shentel |
Shenandoah Telecommunications Company,doing business asShentel, is a publicly tradedtelecommunications company headquartered inEdinburg, Virginia. It operates a digital wireless and wireline network in rural Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.[4]
Shentel was founded in January 1902 as the Farmers' Mutual Telephone System of Shenandoah County (FMTS).[5] This was one of a number of Farmers' Mutual telephone systems established in rural areas of the United States. The company's initial goal was to bring telephone service to rural residents of Shenandoah County, VA.[6] In 1960 the name changed to Shenandoah Telephone Company, then in 1981 to Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (Shentel).[4]The company launchedcable TV service and a fiber optic network in the 1980s. In 1984 Shentel added mobile and paging services. In 1990 Shentel launched Shenandoah Cellular, the first company in Virginia to offer cellular service to a rural area. Internet service was made available to Shentel customers in 1994.[4]
In the 2000s Shentel began to expand its cable footprint - purchasing cable assets fromRapid Communications in Virginia and West Virginia in 2008,[7] and acquiring JetBroadband in southern Virginia and southern West Virginia in 2010.[8] Later in 2010, Shentel purchased two small cable systems fromSuddenlink Communications (one in West Virginia, the other in Maryland).[9]
In May 2016, Shentel finished acquiring its competitorNtelos[10] for 640 million dollars.[11] acquiring 297,500 subscribers. The deal also transferred an additional 291,000 subscribers from Sprint in exchange for Ntelos spectrum,[12][13] making Shentel the sixth largest public wireless company in the United States.[4]
In February 2019, Shentel announced the agreement to purchase Big Shandy Broadband, a Kentucky-based cable television, broadband Internet and phone provider.[14]
On August 27, 2020,T-Mobile USA decided to purchase the wireless assets of the company.[15]
In October 2023, Shentel announced their acquisition of The Chillicothe Telephone Company (dba Horizon Telcom) and its assets; thus expanding their "Glo Fiber" branded fiber network into the South-Eastern Ohio area.[16]
In March 2024, Shentel agreed to the sale of its cell tower portfolio to Vertical Bridge, reportedly the largest private owner of communications towers in the US, for $310.3 million in cash.[17]
A great many telephone charters are coming in to the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth to be recorded….received yesterday…Farmers' Mutual Telephone System of Shenandoah County.
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