"Something to Smile About"
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Subsidiary | |
Industry |
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Founded | March 17, 1999 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia |
Area served
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United States |
Key people
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Glenn Lurie (CEO) John Dwyer, President Janna Ducich, VP and CMO George Cleveland, VP of customer operations |
Products |
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Services | |
Parent | AT&T |
Website | www |
Cricket Wireless is a prepaid wireless service provider in the United States. Cricket Wireless offers voice, text, and data and is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T. Cricket Wireless was founded in 1999 by Leap Wireless International, Inc. On July 12, 2013, AT&T Inc. agreed to acquire Cricket's parent company Leap Wireless International for $1.2 billion. The merger was approved by the Federal Communications Commission on March 13, 2014, and later that same day, Leap Wireless announced the completion of its acquisition by AT&T.
Leap Wireless launched Cricket Wireless's first market in Chicago, Illinois on March 17, 1999.
On September 4, 2007, competing carrier MetroPCS announced a $5.3 billion bid to merge with Leap Wireless. Leap informally rejected the bid less than two weeks later. MetroPCS officially withdrew the bid less than two months later, on November 1, 2007.
On September 17, 2007, Cricket launched Wireless Broadband Service using EV-DO.
On December 12, 2007, Cricket agreed to acquire Hargray Communications Group's wireless telecommunications business.
On April 8, 2008, Cricket launched in Oklahoma City.
On September 29, 2008, Cricket announced that they had entered into a 10-year roaming agreement with MetroPCS covering both companies' existing and future markets. The companies also entered into a spectrum exchange agreement covering licenses in certain markets and on November 13, 2008, Cricket launched "Premium Extended Coverage", a roaming partnership with 14 wireless companies. On February 2009, Cricket launched in Chicago.
On March 10, 2009, Cricket launched in the Philadelphia market, including eastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Delaware.
On June 23, 2009, Cricket launched in the Washington, DC and Baltimore markets.