Rural Cellular’s share price fell from $100 to $1 amid the telecom market boom-to-bust of 1999 to 2002. But revenues have been surging for the Alexandria company, which provides primary cellular service to customers in rural parts of 15 Midwestern, Northwestern, Southern, and New England states. Some of that is “roaming” revenues from national cellular outfits, whose customers rely on Rural Cellular to keep them connected in territories where their primary carrier can’t. Its growing customer list and the chance to save on roaming fees made Rural Cellular an attractive acquisition target for Verizon Wireless, which said in late July that it would buy the Minnesota company for $45 per share in cash. Over the 12-month period ending June 30, Rural Cellular’s market value rose by nearly 300 percent, to almost $600 million, and analysts were projecting the first profits in 2008 for a company that went public 11 years ago.
