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T-Mobile, Sprint say Henrietta would be home to more than 1,000 jobs if merger OK'd

T-Mobile and Sprint have announced that if their merger is approved, they will locate a Customer Experience Center in Henrietta which would employ about 1,300 people.

Last February,the companies announced that the Greater Rochester area would have one of five new T-Mobile Customer Experience Centers, and on Tuesday, the companies offered more specifics.

T-Mobile also released the findings of an independent economic analysis from the Center for Governmental Research in Rochester which show that the new facility would generate 500 to 600 jobs in addition to the 1,300.

David Riley is a senior associate with CGR and he says if this call center happens, those additional 500 to 600 positions would be "spillover jobs, generated by T-Mobile employees going out and spending their salaries in the local economy, vendors that do business with the customer experience center being able to put that money back in the local economy,” Riley explained.

That CGR study also says the payroll  for the new center would range from about $22 million to $26 million and would generate more than $1.5 million in sales and income taxes.

T-Mobile is not looking for any economic incentives.  The new call center would serve a large portion of the northeast.

“There’s a lot to love about the Greater Rochester community – and I’m excited for the New T-Mobile to become a bigger part of it,” said T-Mobile Chief Executive Officer John Legere. “This area is known for its innovation, entrepreneurship…”

Last month there was a report in the Wall Street Journalabout some concerns from the U.S. Department of Justice about approving the merger, although Legere pushed back on that story.

At the state level, the deal has received a number of approvals, including from the New York Public Service Commission.

Henrietta Town Supervisor Steve Schultz says that the location T-Mobile is looking at would be between Clay Road and Route 15A, not far from the Amazon distribution facility. He is also hopeful that if the T-Mobile-Sprint merger happens and the call center moves into Henrietta, that they will be able to hire some of the people who got laid off in recent months at facilities run by Frontier and Verizon.

Leah George VanScott is Vice President of Business Development at Greater Rochester Enterprise. She says that organization has been involved since last summer in the effort to get the T-Mobile-Sprint facility to locate here.

“Helping that site selector and the company validate that we have top quality and available talent; that the quality of life and the cost of living here meets their standards, and that the wages are very competitive,” George VanScott said.

Bob Duffy, President & CEO of the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce, said that the new call center “Opens up many opportunities for men and women in this region. Rochester Chamber plans to work closely with T-Mobile to help fill those positions once it receives federal approval for its merger with Sprint,” Duffy said.

Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo said that the county has offered its 'LadderzUp' and 'Recruiting on the Road' workforce development programs "to help link our residents to the company’s openings."

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.