Cricket headed to mid-Atlantic area

So if you’re Cricket and you want to expand your market, what do you do? Answer: Anything you can. And so with this logic comes their latest move, an expansion into the Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania. How are they doing it? By putting up $40 million in “property improvements and equipment throughout southeast Pennsylvania. In exchange, they’ll have access to the vast Philadelphia market. Sounds like a reasonable maneuver to me. There’s no indication of exactly where the $40 million will go, but it will help them “establish a switch facility, a regional shared service center, hundreds of cell sites, and numerous retail stores.” Beyond providing the region with their signature flat-rate, unlimited calling services, Cricket expects this to create an additional 170 jobs in the area. Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell seems ecstatic about the move:

“Pennsylvania was in stiff competition with other states for this economic development project,” Governor Rendell said. “Cricket Communications chose the commonwealth because of its strong, vital economy and talented workforce. Our targeted investments are creating jobs and helping to keep our unemployment rate well below the national level. All of these factors lead to a positive business environment where companies can compete and flourish in the global marketplace.”

Cricket remains optimistic about this endeavor, given the success of their services in the Pittsburgh area. As of this release, there is no word on when Cricket’s network will be operational in the area. [PR Newswire]]]>