Alltel

Last updated
Alltel
Company type Private
Industry Telecommunications
Founded1943;81 years ago (1943) in Little Rock, Arkansas
FounderAllen Schaffer
Defunct2016;8 years ago (2016)
FateDissolved by AT&T
Successor Windstream
Verizon Wireless
AT&T Mobility
Headquarters Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
Key people
 Allen M Schaffer, CEO
Products Landline, Wireless
Website www.alltelwireless.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 2014-08-11)

Alltel was a landline, wireless and general telecommunications services provider, primarily based in the United States. Before its wireless division was acquired by Verizon Wireless and AT&T, Alltel provided cellular service to 34 states and had approximately 13 million subscribers. As a regulatory condition of the acquisition by Verizon, a small portion of Alltel was spun off and continued to operate under the same name in six states, mostly in rural areas. [1] Following the merger, Alltel remained the ninth largest wireless telecommunications company in the United States, with approximately 800,000 customers. [2] On January 22, 2013, AT&T announced they were acquiring what remained of Alltel from Atlantic Tele-Network for $780 million in cash. [3]

Contents

At its peak, Alltel operated a network in 34 states, with a wireless coverage footprint comprising the largest network in the United States by area. The company focused on small to medium size cities providing wireless services to residential and business customers in all 50 states through roaming agreements with Verizon and Sprint. These agreements gave Alltel customers access to nationwide service, while providing those carriers coverage in rural areas.

On June 5, 2008, Verizon Wireless announced it would acquire the majority of Alltel Wireless in a deal valued at $28.1 billion. The merger was approved by the Federal Communications Commission on the condition that Verizon divest 105 Alltel markets. On May 8, 2009, AT&T announced it would acquire 79 of the divested wireless properties, including licenses, network assets, and 1.5 million current subscribers, primarily in rural areas across 18 states. [4]

On April 26, 2010, Atlantic Tele-Network acquired the remaining 26 divested Alltel markets, including licenses, network assets and 800,000 subscribers. [5] These remaining markets continued to be operated by Allied Wireless, a subsidiary of ATN, under the Alltel name. [6] On September 20, 2013, AT&T announced they had completed the acquisition of Alltel from Atlantic Tele-Network. AT&T immediately began plans to upgrade the former Alltel network and to move customers to the AT&T network by midyear 2014. [7] The transition completed in February 2015 with all Alltel customers becoming a part of the AT&T network. In early 2016, AT&T dissolved Alltel Wireless.

History

In 1943, the Allied Telephone Company, a small business specializing in installing telephone poles and cabling for telephone companies across Arkansas, was founded by Charles Miller and Hugh Willbourn, Jr. In 1945, they opened a storefront in the Hillcrest district of Little Rock. The business sold electrical appliances in the front of the building, and the company enabled Wilbourn and Miller to buy telephone equipment wholesale.

Alltel's modern history begins in 1983 when Allied Telephone and Mid-Continent Telephone merged. Mid-Continent Telephone was originally a theatre company and started in 1931 by Eddie Ruben and Joe L. Floyd in Minnesota. In 1985, Alltel launched its first wireless system in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1993, Alltel opened its first wireless retail store. In 1997, the company's wireless and wireline businesses were combined into a single organization.

On December 9, 2005, Alltel announced that it would become a wireless-only company, simultaneously merging and building a spin-off company for its wireline services. [8] The wireline services business of Alltel merged with Valor Telecom and was named Windstream Communications on April 10, 2006. The merger-spinoff process ended July 17, 2006 when Windstream began operations. [9]

Alltel's old logo (prior to 2005) Alltel 1997.svg
Alltel's old logo (prior to 2005)

On May 20, 2007, Alltel announced an agreement to be sold to two private-equity firms: TPG Capital and GS Capital Partners. Under the deal, the two firms paid $71.50 a share in cash, or $27.5 billion, a 10% premium over Alltel's May 18, 2007 closing price. [10]

Mergers and acquisitions

1990

1997

  • Standard Group, Inc. (Cornelia, Georgia) – merger adds more than 71,000 local telephone lines
  • Aliant Communications (Lincoln, Nebraska) – $1.8 billion merger
  • Liberty Cellular (Kansas) – $600 million merger

1998

  • 360 Communications (Illinois) – wireless properties and assets, merger adds 2.6 million customers in 15 states

2000

2002

2003

2005

2006

  • First Cellular of Southern Illinois (Illinois) – Alltel purchased First Cellular for $14-15 million in cash.
  • Palmetto MobileNet, L.P. (North Carolina) (South Carolina) – Alltel purchased from Palmetto MobileNet, L.P. wireless partnerships that cover approximately 2.3 million people in North and South Carolina. Alltel already managed and owned 50 percent of each of the 10 partnerships and has purchased the remaining interests from Palmetto. The partnerships include 34 counties across South Carolina and seven counties in Western North Carolina.
  • Midwest Wireless (Minnesota) – Alltel purchased Midwest Wireless for $1.083 billion in cash, adding 433,000 wireless customers
  • In Summer 2006 Alltel's Simple Freedom Wireless, customers were migrated in non-Alltel markets. (see article below)

2007

  • Alltel agrees to be acquired by TPG Capital and GS Capital Partners, the private equity division of Goldman Sachs for $27.5 billion. [11]
  • Simple Freedom Wireless merges with Alltel "U Prepaid" to form Alltel U Personalized Prepaid.
  • Simple Freedom Wireless customers in ( Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, & Florida) are merged with Verizon Wireless Prepaid.

2008

2009

  • Verizon Wireless closes merger on January 9.
  • AT&T announces acquisition of 79 of the 105 divested markets.
  • Atlantic Tele-Network announces acquisition of the remaining 26 divested markets.

2010

  • Atlantic Tele-Network completes acquisition of 26 markets and continues to operate as Alltel in six states.
  • Element Mobile buys RSA #7, the remaining Alltel customers in Central Wisconsin.

2013

  • AT&T Mobility completes acquisition of AWCC/Alltel from ATNI on September 30.

2016

Executive team (after ATN acquisition)

Executive team (after AT&T acquisition)

Wireless network technology

Alltel's networks consisted of analog and digital systems operating primarily on the 850 MHz (3GPP2 Band Class 0) cellular band, much like Verizon Wireless. Native Alltel markets consisted of both analog (AMPS) and digital (CDMA) technologies. Virtually 100 percent of markets had been outfitted with 3G 1xEV-DO digital technology, which allows for additional battery life and faster download times when using Internet or BREW-based applications. [12] Alltel posted a three phase turn down schedule [13] in response to the FCC decision stating that by March 1, 2008 A and B side carriers are no longer required to support analog. The analog systems were retired by the end of 2008. While Alltel had not outlined its future path, merger partner Verizon Wireless had already announced plans to switch to GSM-based LTE.

Wireless network coverage

There were Alltel-owned and -operated networks in parts of 6 states. Alltel utilized roaming agreements with competing providers to provide coast-to-coast service. Roaming agreements in the United States were primarily with Verizon and Sprint until the completion of the migration of all customers to the AT&T network.

Handset and technical specifics

Wireless services

Commercials

After Alltel's November 2004 announcement that Campbell-Ewald of Detroit would be their primary advertising agency, [18] Alltel used lookalikes of rival cell phone companies' primary advertising characters along with Alltel's spokesman, [19] played by comedian Chad Brokaw. [20] After competing networks complained, [21] the promotional campaign featured this notice on television and the website: "Our lawyers would like to inform you some of the characters you see here are not associated with Alltel. They are look-alikes. The characters, not our lawyers." In the first commercial, at an Alltel store, Alltel representative Chad spoke to representatives of five competitors to his circle. A second commercial was set in a bowling alley. The third commercial took place in a court room, with the faces of the other carriers blurred. [22] In "The Century's Trial of the Century", Edward Maxwell Von Houten, attorney for the People Against My Circle Foundation, sued Chad for attempting to force people into calling circles. [23]

After that, Alltel started a series of commercials involving Chad, bragging about Alltel's service and using the theme music "Come and Get Your Love". The parodied competitors, called "Sales Guys" are perpetually frustrated by their failures and less popularity, even going so far as to harass and threaten him, albeit with less than effective results. The Sales Guys are played by professional actors Matthew Brent (Verizon), Scott Halberstadt (Cingular/AT&T), Ian Gould (T-Mobile), and Michael Busch (Sprint), [20] who was later replaced by Adam Herschman. [24] Each representative wears a shirt with the color of the company they represent, as well as name tags to represent their company. Most ads in 2007 had the Cingular/AT&T guy wearing two name tags—one each for Cingular & AT&T—while that brand was transiting to AT&T. As of 2008, they added a snobbish wizard into the ads. The Christmas 2007/2008 ads uses stop-motion animation, parodying the Rankin-Bass Christmas specials.

The campaign included a MySpace page, and Campbell-Ewald Digital created The Man Cave with its own web site. [19] The fourth and fifth commercials features employees of other carriers' mall stores trying to convince Chad to end My Circle with $8.00. The sixth has Chad giving RAZRs as Christmas gifts to them. Since this service and advertising campaign started, other carriers started adding similar services. For example, T-Mobile introduced "My Faves" in the fall of 2006.[ citation needed ]

In 2010, markets sold to Verizon Wireless aired a special commercial with both Chad and Paul Marcarelli as the real "Verizon Guy". Alltel and Chad produced a Christmas edition commercial later that year for remaining Alltel markets, featured at Longbranch Coffee House located in Carbondale, Illinois.

Sponsorships

Former structure naming rights

Racing Teams

NASCAR

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AT&T Mobility</span> American telecommunications company

AT&T Mobility, LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. and provides wireless services in the United States. AT&T Mobility is the third largest wireless carrier in the United States, with 116 million subscribers as of September 30, 2024.

Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the divisions Verizon Consumer and Verizon Business, and stopped using the Verizon Wireless name. Verizon has 114.2 million subscribers as of September 30, 2024. It currently has the largest network in the United States with their LTE network covering 70% of the United States.

AT&T Wireless Services, Inc., formerly part of AT&T Corporation, was a wireless telephone carrier founded in 1987 in the United States, based in Redmond, Washington, and later traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol "AWE", as a separate entity from its former parent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altafiber</span> American telecommunications company

Cincinnati Bell, Inc., doing business as Altafiber, is a regional telecommunications service provider based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It provides landline telephone, fiber-optic Internet, and IPTV services through its subsidiaries Altafiber Home Phone and Hawaiian Telcom, which are the incumbent local exchange carriers for the Greater Cincinnati metropolitan area and Hawaii. Other subsidiaries provide enterprise information technology services and long distance calling.

Western Wireless Corporation was a cellular network operator that provided mobile telecommunications service to subscribers in 19 western states in the United States, and seven other countries. Western Wireless marketed analog cellular service under the CELLULAR ONE brand in 88 FCC-defined rural service areas and digital PCS service under the VoiceStream brand in 19 FCC-defined metropolitan service areas. At its peak in 2004, Western Wireless provided service to 1.4 million domestic subscribers. Western Wireless obtained additional revenue from the international operations of its Western Wireless International Corporation subsidiary, which was licensed to provide wireless communications services in seven countries to a total of 1.8 million subscribers.

Houston Cellular was a Houston-based cell phone company which provided AMPS and D-AMPS (TDMA) service in the Greater Houston area. It was formed in 1983 and was operated as a partnership between LIN Broadcasting Corp., Mobile Communication Corp. of America and BellSouth Co. Its headquarters were located in Houston, Texas.

Cellular One is the trademarked brand name that licenses services used by several cellular service providers in the United States. The brand was sold to Trilogy Partners by AT&T in 2008 shortly after AT&T had completed its acquisition of Dobson Communications. Cellular One was originally the trade name of one of the first mobile telephone service providers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TracFone Wireless</span> Mobile virtual network operator

TracFone Wireless, Inc. (TFWI) is an American wireless prepaid service provider. It is a mobile virtual network operator offering prepaid and no-contract services on the Verizon network under multiple brands, including TracFone, Straight Talk Wireless, Total Wireless, Simple Mobile, SafeLink Wireless, Page Plus Cellular, Net10 Wireless, GoSmart Mobile, and Walmart Family Mobile.

Dobson Cellular Systems, Inc. now part of AT&T Mobility, was a wireless telecommunications provider operating in several regions of the United States, including Alaska, Arizona, California, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Dobson Cellular Systems was a wholly owned subsidiary of Dobson Communications Corporation based in Oklahoma City. It was the provider of Cellular One-branded services in the United States. Dobson operated under the brand name of Cellular One, and provided service on a D-AMPS and GSM network. The company purchased the rights to the Cellular One name from Alltel in December 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sprint Corporation</span> Former American telecommunications company

Sprint Corporation was an American telecommunications company. Before being acquired by T-Mobile US on April 1, 2020, it was the fourth-largest mobile network operator in the United States, serving 54.3 million customers as of June 30, 2019. The company also offered wireless voice, messaging, and broadband services through its various subsidiaries under the Boost Mobile and Open Mobile brands and wholesale access to its wireless networks to mobile virtual network operators.

Unicel was a brand of mobile phone service from Rural Cellular Corporation. Service was provided in northern Minnesota, northern New England, Mississippi, Alabama, eastern Washington and Oregon, and adjacent areas. The company was headquartered in Alexandria, Minnesota. Until 2005, RCC also operated 850 MHz cellular service under the brand name Cellular 2000. On January 25, 2009 Verizon Wireless officially took over all operations of Unicel.

Leap Wireless International, Inc. was a telecommunications operator that provided wireless services to approximately 4.6 million subscribers, the 5th largest, through its subsidiary, Cricket Communications, Inc.. It was headquartered in San Diego, California. Leap Wireless and Cricket Wireless are now subsidiaries of AT&T.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claro Puerto Rico</span> Puerto Rican telecommunication company

Claro Puerto Rico is the largest telecommunications service provider in Puerto Rico. It is headquartered in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, and has operated for almost a century offering voice, data, long distance, broadband, directory publishing and wireless services for the island residents and businesses. It was founded by the Behn brothers, Sosthenes and Hernan in 1914. Originally, Puerto Rico Telephone Company eventually spawned ITT Corporation, which was founded by Sosthenes Behn. The company was a public corporation of the government of Puerto Rico for many years until the majority stakes were acquired by GTE in the mid-1990s. It was a subsidiary of Verizon Communications until it was fully acquired by América Móvil in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windstream Holdings</span> Provider of voice and data network communications

Windstream Holdings, Inc., also doing business as Windstream Communications is a provider of voice and data network communications, and managed services, to businesses in the United States. The company also offers residential broadband, phone and digital streaming TV services to consumers within its coverage area. It is the ninth largest residential telephone provider in the country with service covering more than 8.1 million people in 21 states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ATN International</span> American telecommunications company

ATN International, Inc. (ATN) formerly known as Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc., is a publicly traded telecommunications company that is headquartered in Beverly, Massachusetts. It operates digital wireless, wireline, and both terrestrial and submarine fiber optic networks, serving markets that are geographically separated and technically challenging, such as the plains, deserts, and mountainous areas of the United States.

Associated Carrier Group (ACG) is an industry association of US CDMA cellular network operators.

Windstream Kentucky West LLC is a Windstream operating company providing local telephone services to small portions of Kentucky.

The history of AT&T dates back to the invention of the telephone. The Bell Telephone Company was established in 1877 by Alexander Graham Bell, who obtained the first US patent for the telephone, and his father-in-law, Gardiner Greene Hubbard. Bell and Hubbard also established American Telephone and Telegraph Company in 1885, which acquired the Bell Telephone Company and became the primary telephone company in the United States. This company maintained an effective monopoly on local telephone service in the United States until anti-trust regulators agreed to allow AT&T to retain Western Electric and enter general trades computer manufacture and sales in return for its offer to split the Bell System by divesting itself of ownership of the Bell Operating Companies in 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ting Mobile</span> Wireless service company

Ting Mobile is an American mobile virtual network operator owned by Boost Mobile. Originally established in February 2012 by Tucows, Ting provides cellular service in the United States using the T-Mobile and Verizon networks. The service is sold off-contract with billing that adjusts the cost of service based on actual customer usage.

References

  1. ↑ "Alltel Wireless to Continue Service to Wireless Customers in portions of central Georgia". Cordele Dispatch. July 27, 2010. Archived from the original on 2011-01-17.
  2. ↑ "Alltel Names Lives on in Allied Wireless". Talk Business. June 27, 2010. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24.
  3. ↑ "AT&T to Acquire Wireless Spectrum and Assets from Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc., Enhance Wireless Coverage in Rural Areas".
  4. ↑ "AT&T Press Release Headlines & News from AT&T".
  5. ↑ "Atlantic Tele-Network Completes Acquisition of Former Alltel Assets from Verizon Wireless". FierceWireless. Archived from the original on 2011-09-30.
  6. ↑ "Alltel lives on in Allied Wireless". Arkansas Online. 2010-10-03.
  7. ↑ "AT&T Completes Acquisition of Alltel Assets; Provides Third-Quarter Update on Strong Smartphone and U-verse Sales". AT&T.
  8. ↑ "Alltel Spins Off Wireline Business and Merges It with VALOR, Creates New Rural-Focused Wireline Company" (Press release). Little Rock, AR: Alltel. December 9, 2005. Archived from the original on October 21, 2007. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  9. ↑ "Alltel completes spinoff and merger of its wireline business with VALOR Communications" (Press release). Little Rock, AR: Alltel. July 17, 2006. Archived from the original on November 3, 2007. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  10. ↑ "Goldman Sachs buys Alltel for $27.5 billion". Seattle Times. May 21, 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-05-23.
  11. ↑ Nystedt, Dan (2007-05-21). "Mobile provider Alltel agrees to $27.5B buyout". Computerworld . Archived from the original on 2007-10-14. Retrieved 2007-05-21.
  12. ↑ "IR Services | Morningstar U.S". Ccbn.10kwizard.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-07. Retrieved 2012-05-15.
  13. ↑ Analog Sunset Information
  14. ↑ "Alltel introduces new prepaid wireless service that's all about 'U'" (Press release). LITTLE ROCK, Ark: Alltel. January 30, 2005. Archived from the original on 2007-10-21. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  15. ↑ Alltel Wi-Fi [ permanent dead link ]
  16. ↑ Internet Access
  17. ↑ Internet Access
  18. ↑ "ALLTEL Selects Campbell-Ewald to Handle Brand Advertising" . Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  19. 1 2 Levere, Jane L. (August 7, 2007). "In Wireless Competition, Mockery Is the Latest Style". New York Times. p. C7.
  20. 1 2 Williams, Greg. "Chad's Circle". The Tampa Tribune. Archived from the original on 2008-06-09. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  21. ↑ Belson, Ken (October 2, 2006). "Cellphone Carriers Focus Ads on Each Other". New York Times. p. C7.
  22. ↑ "www.ringtoneshuffle.com" . Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  23. ↑ Lavallee, Andrew (August 3, 2006). "Alltel Spoofs Itself in Online Ads, But Not Everyone Gets the Joke". Wall Street Journal.
  24. ↑ Couch, Steve (2008-03-27). "Hey! What happened to the Sprint guy?". The News-Herald .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.