FORT WAYNE,Ind. (Indiana’s NewsCenter) — AT&T announced Friday it will buy wireless provider Centennial Communications Corp.

The deal is said to be for $944 million in cash. With Centennial’s debt included, AT&T values the deal at $2.8 billion.

AT&T said the deal will help expand its wireless coverage in areas of the Midwestern and Southeastern parts of the country. They also said it will help with coverage in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

The purchase still needs to be approved from regulators and Centennial shareholders, but AT&T said it hopes to finalize the deal in the second quarter of 2009.

Centennial has about 1.1 million wireless customers.

It is unclear how this will affect local facilities and customers.

Centennial President Phil Mayberry says, “We don’t know how it’s going to affect our facilities; we’re going to compete with AT&T through the transaction closing which we expect to be in late spring of next year. In the meantime they’re going to do their thing and we’re going to do our thing and we’re going to compete and then they’ll decide what they’re going to do. Our employees are going to be well taken care of and our customers are going to be well taken care of.”

Mayberry also isn’t sure if AT&T will re-brand Centennial. If the deal goes through, Centennial customers will have access to AT&T services, while AT&T customers could look forward to improved wireless service