Unicel was a brand of

mobile phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...

service from Rural Cellular Corporation. Service was provided in northern

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, northern

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, eastern

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

and

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, and adjacent areas. The company was headquartered in

Alexandria, Minnesota Alexandria is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 14,335 as of the 2020 census. I-94 passes through Alexandria, along with Minnesota State Highways 27 and 29. It is south of Lake ...

. Until 2005, RCC also operated 850 MHz cellular service under the brand name Cellular 2000. On January 25, 2009

Verizon Wireless Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the div ...

officially took over all operations of Unicel. Unicel offers 850 MHz and 1900 MHz ( PCS) service largely using

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...

technology, but much of its

territory uses competing

cdmaOne cdmaOne, most often simply referred to as CDMA, is a 2G digital cellular technology. It was the commercial name for Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), a technology that was developed by Qualcomm and later adopted as a standard by the Telecommunica ...

instead. Legacy AMPS and

D-AMPS Digital AMPS (D-AMPS), most often referred to as TDMA, is a second-generation ( 2G) cellular phone system that was once prevalent throughout the Americas, particularly in the United States and Canada since the first commercial network was deploy ...

phones are commonly in use as well. The use of both GSM and CDMA reflects the fact that the Unicel service area has been assembled through the acquisitions of other wireless carriers. On July 30, 2007, Rural Cellular Corporation announced it agreed to be acquired by

(a CDMA carrier). Verizon said that it plans to convert RCC's GSM customers to CDMA technology, but it will continue to operate RCC's current GSM network in order to generate roaming revenue. On 4 October 2007, Rural Cellular Corporation announced that its shareholders voted to approve the merger agreement providing for the acquisition of Rural Cellular Corporation by Verizon Wireless for approximately $2.67 billion in cash and assumed debt. On December 4, 2007,

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

announced that it would swap some of its RCC properties with

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

in exchange for some properties from Dobson Cellular, which AT&T recently acquired. On June 10, 2008, The Department of Justice has said that in order to acquire Rural Cellular Corporation, Verizon Wireless must divest some of RCC's existing wireless assets including Vermont, New York, and Washington states. The DOJ has filed a lawsuit that will force Verizon Wireless to comply with the divestiture before the acquisition can proceed. The FCC approved the acquisition on August 5, 2008. Approval depended on the sale of towers in six key market areas, including all of Vermont, in order to ensure that the acquisition wouldn't be anti-competitive in those areas. Verizon must also continue to maintain Unicel's GSM towers in other markets if it does not choose to sell them. On August 7, 2008,

announced they had completed the purchase of Rural Cellular Corporation for $2.66 billion in cash and assumed debt. On December 22, 2008, AT&T announced that it would complete its takeover of UNICEL's Vermont shares and begin to roll out its phones, brand and contracts to its wireless customers in Vermont, New York, and Washington State. UNICEL still offers phone service in two states as these areas were not included in the Verizon Wireless acquisition. UNICEL's service in these states will eventually change to a different wireless provider. As of August 24, 2011 the UNICEL website has been completely shut down.

References

{{US mobile phone companies Defunct mobile phone companies of the United States Defunct companies based in Minnesota Telecommunications companies established in 1990 Companies disestablished in 2008 Verizon Wireless