EXHIBIT 1
                                                                       ---------

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:       Centennial Cellular Corp.
               Scott N. Schneider
               Chief Financial Officer
               (203) 972-2000

                       Centennial Cellular Corp. Updates Merger Status

               New Canaan, CT, Oct. 13, 1998. Centennial Cellular Corp. (the
"Company") (Nasdaq: CYCL-news), a leading independent cellular provider,
announced on July 2, 1998, the Agreement and Plan of Merger (the "Merger
Agreement"), dated as of July 2, 1998, between the Company and CCW Acquisition
Corp., a Delaware corporation ("Acquisition") organized at the direction of
Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe VIII, L.P. ("WCAS").

               The Company announced today that it had received a letter from
Acquisition attaching a communication from Merrill Lynch Capital Corporation in
which Merrill Lynch Capital Corporation advised Acquisition that if it were
requested to fund, as of October 12, 1998, the credit facilities and bridge loan
contemplated by the commitment letter it delivered to Acquisition (the
"Commitment Letter"), a condition to funding the credit facilities and bridge
loan set forth in the Commitment Letter would not be satisfied and Merrill Lynch
Capital Corporation would therefore have no obligation to fund the credit
facilities or the bridge loan as of October 12, 1998. The condition to funding
referred to is that no material adverse change shall have occurred in the
domestic or international financial, banking or capital markets since the date
of its commitment that, in the reasonable judgment of Merrill Lynch, would
adversely affect the syndication of credit facilities of the same type as the
credit facilities contemplated in the Commitment Letter or debt securities of
the same type contemplated to replace the bridge loan commitments. However,
Merrill Lynch Capital Corporation recognized in its communication that such
condition to funding contemplated by the Commitment Letter need only be
satisfied on the date of request for such funding. Therefore, Merrill Lynch
informed Acquisition that its communication "is for information purposes only
and does not constitute a termination, repudiation or modification of the
Commitment Letter, which (subject to its conditions) remains in full force and
effect." The Commitment Letter and the Merger Agreement each have a termination
date of January 31, 1999.

               The proposed merger (the "Merger") is subject to certain
conditions, including the funding of financing arrangements committed by Merrill
Lynch or alternative financing on terms no less favorable than those set forth
in the Commitment Letter. Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, WCAS has agreed to
use commercially reasonable efforts to consummate the committed financing or
alternative financing on terms no more onerous than the terms of the committed
financing.