SPARTA — Altice USA, a New York City-based cable provider, announced Wednesday that it has acquired Service Electric Cable TV of New Jersey.

Altice, a multi-systems operating company, will purchase the over 70-year-old Service Electric for $150 million, according to a brief announcement by Altice made within a 25-page news release reporting the company's fourth-quarter earnings.

Bob Williams, general counsel for Service Electric Cable, confirmed the acquisition by phone Thursday, stating that pending regulatory approvals by the state, the companies can move toward a closing by the end of September.

Williams said due to the nature of the agreement, he was unable to go into specifics, but said that it was time to sell.

“Suffice it to say, this was the right time for the company to do this,” he said.

He is hopeful that current Service Electric subscribers will benefit from the transition, with Altice delivering on all the services that they are currently providing.

Altice USA CEO Dexter Goei, during the company's earnings call, stated that the deal, which doesn't include Service Electric's Pennsylvania systems, will be “very profitable and accretive” to Altice.

“It's contiguous to our business. It's a great area, Sparta, N.J., and surrounding areas,” he reportedly said, according to Multichannel News, a business publication. “There are no overbuilders in that area and it's also an underdeveloped broadband network.”

Service Electric Cable TV of New Jersey covers 100% of the county, serving cable, telephone and internet to around 30,000 customers, along with several municipalities in Warren County. Not included in the sale are Service Electric Cable TV & Communications, which serves Hunterdon County and the Lehigh Valley, Pa., area, and Service Electric Cablevision, which services areas in eastern Pennsylvania.

The news release indicates that Altice USA will offer “high-quality broadband, video, mobile and news offerings to thousands of additional homes and businesses in New Jersey.”

A public-traded company, Altice, based in Long Island City, Queens, operates the Optimum brands, mainly in the northern part of New Jersey, and Suddenlink brands, which services areas in south-central U.S. markets.

According to a list of residential internet service providers in Sussex County, Optimum by Altice is available in about 11% of the county and is ranked as the second fastest internet provider, just below XFINITY from Comcast. However, XFINITY is only offered to 1.7% of Sussex County residents. Most county residents, though, will gravitate toward Service Electric or CenturyLink, the latter of which is offered to 97% of county residents, according to Broadband Now, a website that helps consumers compare broadband service.

As for internet speeds, Service Electric offers speeds of up to 105 Mbps and Optimum by Altice offers speeds of up to 400 Mbps, but not all homeowners will need nor want to pay for such high speeds.

Several area residents have, over the years, expressed their concerns with Service Electric's inability to keep up with other providers. Among those complaints were lack of channel choices, fees and internet speed.

U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-5th-Dist., has continuously pushed to get internet service providers in the area that supply broadband access to bring their services up to par with other companies in the area. Specifically, Gottheimer turned to Service Electric Cable Broadband, a subsidiary of Service Electric Cable TV, to express his concerns.

Service Electric got its start in 1948 after John Walson Sr. extended a line from an antenna tower to his Schuylkill County, Pa., electronics store to demonstrate new TV receivers. The company now serves 290,000 subscribers in 250 communities in central and northeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Before Walson Sr.'s death in 1993, Service Electric was split into three companies that operate independently from one another. Each of Walson's children were given a company to operate.

Lori Comstock can also be reached on Twitter: @LoriComstockNJH, on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/LoriComstockNJH or by phone: 973-383-1194.