Centennial Enters Jamaica Wireless Market.Business/Technology Editors NEPTUNE Neptune, in Roman religion and mythology Neptune, in Roman religion and mythology, god of water. He was presumably an indigenous god of fertility, but in later times he was identified with the Greek Poseidon, god of the sea. , NJ--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 2000 Centennial Communications Corp. ("Centennial") (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :CYCL) today acquired a 51% interest in Paradise Wireless (Jamaica) Limited from Oceanic Digital Corporation. Paradise Wireless recently won at auction the broadband 800 MHz (MegaHertZ) One million cycles per second. It is used to measure the transmission speed of electronic devices, including channels, buses and the computer's internal clock. A one-megahertz clock (1 MHz) means some number of bits (16, 32, 64, etc. CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) A method for transmitting simultaneous signals over a shared portion of the spectrum. The foremost application of CDMA is the digital cellular phone technology from QUALCOMM that operates in the 800 MHz band and 1.9 GHz PCS band. license for all of Jamaica. Oceanic Digital will retain a 49% interest in Paradise Wireless (Jamaica). Jamaica has a population of approximately 2.6 million. "We are delighted to be entering the Jamaica wireless market with a high quality CDMA network," said Carlos Bofill, chief executive officer of Centennial's Caribbean operations. "Jamaica joins Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and the U.S. Virgin Islands as part of Centennial's growing presence in the Caribbean. We look forward to a long association with our partners at Oceanic Digital." Centennial is one of the largest independent wireless telecommunications service providers in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic with approximately 17.4 million Net Pops and over 585,500 wireless subscribers. Centennial's domestic operations have approximately 6.1 million Net Pops and over 416,500 wireless subscribers. Centennial de Puerto Rico is a fully integrated provider of communications services in Puerto Rico, utilizing a PCS (1) (Personal Communications Services) Refers to wireless services that emerged after the U.S. government auctioned commercial licenses in 1994 and 1995. This radio spectrum in the 1. license that covers 3.8 million Pops in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier license to operate in Puerto Rico. Centennial de Puerto Rico has approximately 169,000 wireless subscribers. In addition, the Company now owns 70% of a PCS license in the Dominican Republic representing approximately 6.2 million Net Pops, and holds minority shares representing approximately 1.2 million Net Pops in U.S. cellular operations controlled and managed by other operators. Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS WCAS Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences WCAS Warfighter Communication Assessment System (US DoD) ) and an affiliate of The Blackstone Group are controlling shareholders of Centennial. WCAS is a private investment firm based in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of and founded in 1979. WCAS currently manages over $8 billion in private equity capital and focuses primarily on the information services and healthcare industries. The Blackstone Group is a New York based private investment bank whose current corporate investment vehicle, Blackstone Capital Partners III Merchant Banking Fund, LP, has approximately $3.8 billion in committed capital. |
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