Centennial Communications Wins E-Rate Contract with Puerto Rico Department of Education.Business Editors/Telecommunications Writers WALL, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 18, 2003 Centennial Communications Centennial Communications (NASDAQ: CYCL) and its subsidiaries (Centennial Wireless (U.S.), Centennial Dominicana and Centennial de Puerto Rico) provide wireless and broadband telecommunications services to wireless telephone subscribers in the United States, Puerto Rico, the Corp. (Nasdaq:CYCL), a leading regional telecommunications service provider A Telecommunications Service Provider or TSP is a type of Communications Service Provider that has traditionally provided telephone and similar services. This category includes ILECs, CLECs, and mobile wireless companies. , today announced that it's Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (pwār`tō rē`kō), island (2005 est. pop. 3,917,000), 3,508 sq mi (9,086 sq km), West Indies, c.1,000 mi (1,610 km) SE of Miami, Fla. broadband division has been awarded a $34.4 million contract by the Puerto Rico Department of Education to provide telecommunications and Internet services to Puerto Rico's approximately 1,540 public schools for the 2003-2004 school year that begins in August 2003. The funding to support the contract is subject to approval by the Federal Communications Commission Federal Communications Commission (FCC), independent executive agency of the U.S. government established in 1934 to regulate interstate and foreign communications in the public interest. (the "FCC (1) (Federal Communications Commission, Washington, DC, www.fcc.gov) The U.S. government agency that regulates interstate and international communications including wire, cable, radio, TV and satellite. The FCC was created under the U.S. "), which has not yet been obtained. The project is expected to be funded with money available through the E-Rate program of the Schools and Libraries Division of the Universal Service Administrative Company The Universal Service Administrative Company is an American nonprofit corporation designated as the administrator of the federal Universal Service Fund (USF) by the Federal Communications Commission. , a private non-profit organization A non-profit organization (abbreviated "NPO", also "non-profit" or "not-for-profit") is a legally constituted organization whose primary objective is to support or to actively engage in activities of public or private interest without any commercial or monetary profit purposes. appointed by the FCC to manage the Universal Services Fund. The FCC is currently reviewing previous contracts for the E-Rate program in Puerto Rico and has withheld funding to Puerto Rico until it completes its investigation. "We are extremely excited about the opportunity to bring advanced telecommunications services to the schools in Puerto Rico," said Michael J. Small, chief executive officer of Centennial Communications. "We believe that the children of Puerto Rico will reap enormous benefits from the Internet in their schools and Centennial is happy to be a part of bringing it to them." Centennial is one of the largest independent wireless telecommunications service providers in the United States and the Caribbean with approximately 17.1 million Net Pops and approximately 896,800 wireless subscribers. Centennial's U.S. operations have approximately 6.0 million Net Pops in small cities and rural areas. Centennial's Caribbean integrated communications operation owns and operates wireless licenses for approximately 11.1 million Net Pops in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and provides voice, data, video and Internet services on broadband networks in the region. Welsh, Carson Anderson & Stowe and an affiliate of the Blackstone Group are controlling shareholders of Centennial. For more information regarding Centennial, please visit our Web sites at www.centennialcom.com and www.centennialpr.com. |
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