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{{Short description|American mobile cellular provider}}
{{Infobox company
| fate = Acquired
| name = SunCom Wireless Holdings, Inc.
| logo = Suncom logo.png
| type = [[Public company|Public]]
| traded_as = {{NYSE was|TPC}}
| foundation = {{start date and age|1999}}
| defunct = {{end date|2008}}
| successor = [[T-Mobile USA]]
| location = [[Berwyn, Pennsylvania|Berwyn]], [[Pennsylvania]], United States
| key_people = Michael E. Kalogris ([[chairman]] & [[Chief executive officer|CEO]]) <BR> Eric Haskell ([[Executive vice president|EVP]] & [[Chief financial officer|CFO]])
| industry = [[Wireless|Wireless Services]]
| products = [[GSM]], [[GPRS]], [[Short message service|Text messaging]], [[Multimedia Messaging Service|Picture messaging]]
}}
'''SunCom Wireless Holdings, Inc.'''  was a wireless carrier that operated in the Southeastern United States from 1999 to 2008, and in parts of the [[Caribbean]] starting in 2004.
As of the third quarter of 2007, SunCom was providing digital wireless communications services to approximately 1.1 million customers and employed more than 1,900 people. In February 2008, SunCom was acquired by [[T-Mobile USA|T-Mobile USA, Inc.]], a [[subsidiary]] of [[Deutsche Telekom]] AG. The company traded on the [[New York Stock Exchange|NYSE]] under the '''TPC''' ticker symbol.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.smartbrief.com/news/ustelecom/industryBW-detail.jsp?id=46CE2005-56BA-4146-A423-39CDFE65F28E |title=T-Mobile Agrees to Acquire SunCom Wireless... |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001093301/http://www.smartbrief.com/news/ustelecom/industryBW-detail.jsp?id=46CE2005-56BA-4146-A423-39CDFE65F28E |archive-date=2011-10-01 |access-date=2022-12-29}}</ref>
In September 2008, the SunCom brand was phased out and rebranded under the T-Mobile name.
==History==
Founded in January 1999 as Triton PCS Holdings by Mark Balfour, SunCom has gone through many deals with other cellular carriers.  The SunCom brand was actually used by three separate companies in the beginning, Triton, TeleCorp and Tritel, all working in cooperation with one another and in partnership with AT&T Wireless. Tritel was purchased by TeleCorp in 2001, with AT&T Wireless finalizing its purchase of TeleCorp in 2003.  By 1995, Suncom was developed and had a significant share of the wireless market. In December 2004, SunCom acquired 29,139 customers from [[Cingular Wireless]] as part of a deal of exchanging towers. In March 2005, SunCom sold 169 cell towers in [[North Carolina]], [[South Carolina]], and [[Puerto Rico]] to Global Signal Acquisitions. SunCom formed an agreement with Global Signal Acquisitions in June 2005 to lease tower space that they subsequently sold. In October 2005, SunCom agreed to sell the 29,139 customers from the deal in 2004 back to Cingular.
On September 17, 2007, T-Mobile USA Inc. announced it would acquire SunCom for approximately  $1.6 billion in cash and $800 million in assumed debt. The deal closed on February 22, 2008.
==Cellular services==
SunCom's operations provided service across [[North Carolina]], [[South Carolina]], northern [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], parts of eastern [[Tennessee]], central [[Arkansas]] and southwest [[Virginia]], as well as [[Puerto Rico]] and the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]]. Beginning in 2001, SunCom merged with AT&T Wireless that served states in the Great Lakes area including [[Wisconsin]], [[Illinois]], and [[Michigan]]. This was short lived and lasted only a year.
As of 2007, SunCom Wireless provided wireless service utilizing the [[GSM]] standard and operating in the 1900[[MHz]] [[GSM frequency bands|PCS frequency-band]], except for one 800[[MHz]] license in CMA 629 (Myrtle Beach, SC). Originally, SunCom utilized [[Digital AMPS|TDMA]] as its technology platform when it constructed its wireless network in 1999 and began offering service. In 2003, the company began overlaying GSM, along with its associated [[GPRS]] technology, completing the upgrade by June 2004 and enabling access across SunCom's footprint. At the time, this was a significant upgrade from TDMA as GSM/GPRS offered more advanced wireless capabilities including data and video transmission.
Suncom Wireless operated in two separate and distinct regional areas: one in the Southeast U.S. and one in the Caribbean.
===Southeast U.S. operations===
[[Image:Suncom.jpg|right|thumb|Former Caribbean headquarters of SunCom in [[San Juan, Puerto Rico]].]]
The company's Southeast operations provided service across North and South Carolina, eastern Georgia, northeastern Tennessee, and southwestern Virginia. SunCom owned wireless licenses in the "28 Basic Trading Areas" as defined by the [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]] which covered SunCom Wireless's southeast region. These licenses included the major metropolitan areas of [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]], [[Greensboro, North Carolina|Greensboro]], [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]]-[[Durham, North Carolina|Durham]]-[[Cary, North Carolina|Cary]], and [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]] and in aggregate encompass a population of over 14 million people.
SunCom Wireless completed the migration of its remaining TDMA Customer Base to GSM on September 30, 2006.  In the final days of its operation, SunCom Wireless only operated on the GSM platform.
===Caribbean operations===
In the [[Caribbean]], SunCom operated in [[Puerto Rico]] and the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]]. The company owned 3 wireless licenses covering this territory, which had a population of more than 4 million people.
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1091973/000089322006000570/w18066e10vk.htm SunCom Wireless Holdings Annual Report (2005)]
{{Deutsche Telekom}}
{{US mobile phone companies}}
{{Puerto Rico mobile phone companies}}
[[Category:Defunct mobile phone companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Deutsche Telekom]]
[[Category:Telecommunications companies established in 1999]]
[[Category:Companies disestablished in 2008]]
[[Category:2008 mergers and acquisitions]]
[[Category:1999 establishments in Pennsylvania]]