Windstream to buy S.C. phone-service provider

By The Associated Press

Traditional telephone company Windstream Corp. says it has agreed to buy NuVox Inc. of Greenville, S.C., a privately held local-exchange carrier, in a transaction the company valued at approximately $643 million.

Windstream said in a news release Tuesday that it would pay NuVox owners $183 million worth of newly issued Windstream stock, $280 million in cash and assume about $180 million in debt.

According to Windstream, the acquisition would add about 90,000 land-line customers in 16 states in the southeast and midwest. Windstream currently has about 3 million access lines, the company said.

The transaction should close in the first half of 2010, Windstream said.