ALLTEL completes purchase of certain Cingular assets

[CrossroadsTech]

http://www.alltel.com/news/news_rele...1apr1505a.html

Release date: April 15, 2005

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - ALLTEL announced today it has completed the purchase of certain assets from Cingular Wireless LLC, a joint venture between SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corporation.

Under the terms of the agreement, ALLTEL acquired former AT&T Wireless properties, including licenses, network assets and subscribers, in the following markets: Oklahoma City and Grant, Okla.; Sherman, Denison, and Jack, Texas; Owensboro and Fulton, Ky.; Litchfield, Conn. and Yalobusha, Miss. ALLTEL also acquired 20 MHz of spectrum and the network assets formerly held by AT&T Wireless in Wichita, Kan., along with wireless spectrum in various counties in Georgia and Texas.

As part of the transaction, the companies also swapped partnership interests, with Cingular receiving interests in markets such as Detroit, Kansas City, Wichita, and several in Texas, including Austin. ALLTEL gained more ownership in markets it manages in Michigan, north Louisiana and Toledo. Additional consideration included $165 million in cash that ALLTEL paid to Cingular.

ALLTEL is a customer-focused communications company with more than 13 million customers and $8 billion in annual revenues. ALLTEL provides wireless, local telephone, long-distance, Internet and broadband services to residential and business customers in 27 states.

ALLTEL, NYSE: AT
www.alltel.com

[agentHibby]

Well it looks like AT&T Wireless non MVNO is all but gone now.

Well that is great to hear for Alltel customers!
Hopefully Alltel will have CDMA up this summer in these markets.
We will see what Alltel wants to do with there market in CT.

Wonder when Metro PCS will complete there deal with the new Cingular?

[z00m]

Shouldn't this be in news? or is it both

[NYCDru]

Originally Posted by z00m Shouldn't this be in news? or is it both

Worthy to put in both sections cause it is news but it mostly affects peoople who live in the south.

[MOTOhooligan]

Originally Posted by CrossroadsTech As part of the transaction, the companies also swapped partnership interests, with Cingular receiving interests in markets such as Detroit, Kansas City, Wichita, and several in Texas, including Austin. ALLTEL gained more ownership in markets it manages in Michigan, north Louisiana and Toledo. Additional consideration included $165 million in cash that ALLTEL paid to Cingular.

Yeah, baby! No more roaming in KC! Woo-hoo, I can't wait!

[agentHibby]

Originally Posted by rancidhooligan Yeah, baby! No more roaming in KC! Woo-hoo, I can't wait!

I don't see how anything would change for roaming??
Kansas City cellular B block was a partnership between Cingular and Alltel. Cingular runs the network and sells service, Alltel just helps out with sending cash to build a network and make money off of the market (this is what Verizon does in my hometown right now).
Alltel has sold its vested intrest in KC to Cingular now. So Cingular will operate in KC just the same except they don't get or give money to Alltel.

[Chris L]

Originally Posted by CrossroadsTech http://www.alltel.com/news/news_rele...1apr1505a.html Under the terms of the agreement, ALLTEL acquired former AT&T Wireless properties, including licenses, network assets and subscribers, in the following markets: Oklahoma City and Grant, Okla.; Sherman, Denison, and Jack, Texas; Owensboro and Fulton, Ky.; Litchfield, Conn. and Yalobusha, Miss.

Uh, there is no "Yalobusha, Miss." There is a Yalobusha County (Coffeeville and Water Valley--very rural territory, with I-55 running pretty much on the western county line), but AFAIK AT&T Wireless never had any towers there, though it may have had a license.

Interesting to see Alltel moving into northern Mississippi (presumably to cut down on roaming on Cellular South), though it's a weird "island" to have unless they think they're going to get some additional spectrum along I-55 to the north and south.

[MOTOhooligan]

Originally Posted by agentHibby So Cingular will operate in KC just the same except they don't get or give money to Alltel.

I guess I misread the original post... so, Kansas City won't have native Alltel service, essentially? They gave what they had to Cingular as part of this deal? If they had kept it, would they have been able to use it? Why the would Alltel do this... after they buy Western Wireless they would totally own Kansas. Seriously, Alltel and Western Wireless would probably have a damn near perfect network here... KC and Wichita are pretty much the only spots they don't have service and I thought Alltel was taking care of that.

[CrossroadsTech]

Originally Posted by Chris L Uh, there is no "Yalobusha, Miss." There is a Yalobusha County (Coffeeville and Water Valley--very rural territory, with I-55 running pretty much on the western county line), but AFAIK AT&T Wireless never had any towers there, though it may have had a license. Interesting to see Alltel moving into northern Mississippi (presumably to cut down on roaming on Cellular South), though it's a weird "island" to have unless they think they're going to get some additional spectrum along I-55 to the north and south.

I agree that Yalobusha is a strange way to describe it... ALLTEL received an AT&T PCS license (B & F, I think) for all counties in MS RSA 4.

ALLTEL did get the AT&T/Triton SunCom towers along I-55 in Grenada and Yalobusha Counties... the rest of the license is undeveloped. I don't believe any customers were acquired. The ALLTEL folks are rushing right now to overlay those 6-8 sites with CDMA. They are broadcasting on SID 1375.

ALLTEL, believe it or not, does not have Cell South listed in the PRL and is not used at all by Mississippi market handsets. They use Verizon, Sprint, then RCC Unicel Analog. The main motivation for acquiring RSA 4 was to connect Starkville/Columbus with continuous coverage to Tupelo. A lot of sales have been lost because "Tupelo suburbs" such as Houston and Aberdeen were not native ALLTEL and no calling features (not even Caller ID) work on Sprint or the only service was poor analog.

[mts3]

Will Alltel eventually sell service in the Grenada area?

[CrossroadsTech]

Originally Posted by mts3 Will Alltel eventually sell service in the Grenada area?

Yes, anytime in the next couple months... and a Grenada prefix for local numbers has been requested by the local market. I haven't heard about a retail store yet but an Authorized Agent has already been recruited. The closest Retail presence is in the Winona Wal-Mart.

[CrossroadsTech]

Originally Posted by rancidhooligan I guess I misread the original post... so, Kansas City won't have native Alltel service, essentially? They gave what they had to Cingular as part of this deal? If they had kept it, would they have been able to use it? Why the would Alltel do this... after they buy Western Wireless they would totally own Kansas. Seriously, Alltel and Western Wireless would probably have a damn near perfect network here... KC and Wichita are pretty much the only spots they don't have service and I thought Alltel was taking care of that.

ALLTEL owned a share of Cingular's market... kind of like stock. They didn't run it or have major say in what happened in Kansas City. They only received a check as Cingular made money there.

It makes more sense for ALLTEL to invest in markets IT RUNS, then in those run by other carriers, so that is why they traded their shares in of Kansas City.

They did get the AT&T network/license in Wichita so basically all of Kansas except Kansas City Metro will be native ALLTEL. Right now ALLTEL's strategy is to become dominant in rural markets with little competition... offer good roaming deals to the Big-4 (Verizon, Cingular, T-Mobile, Sprint) so that they will stay out of these rural areas... and let ALLTEL become the carrier to have in the country. If they moved into KC, they would have to try to compete by offering less profitable plans... and investing tons in advertising.

[jjdu42]

Originally Posted by CrossroadsTech I agree that Yalobusha is a strange way to describe it... ALLTEL received an AT&T PCS license (B & F, I think) for all counties in MS RSA 4. ALLTEL did get the AT&T/Triton SunCom towers along I-55 in Grenada and Yalobusha Counties... the rest of the license is undeveloped. I don't believe any customers were acquired. The ALLTEL folks are rushing right now to overlay those 6-8 sites with CDMA. They are broadcasting on SID 1375. ALLTEL, believe it or not, does not have Cell South listed in the PRL and is not used at all by Mississippi market handsets. They use Verizon, Sprint, then RCC Unicel Analog. The main motivation for acquiring RSA 4 was to connect Starkville/Columbus with continuous coverage to Tupelo. A lot of sales have been lost because "Tupelo suburbs" such as Houston and Aberdeen were not native ALLTEL and no calling features (not even Caller ID) work on Sprint or the only service was poor analog.

God I hate RCC Unicel and their Analog roaming. I kinda wished Alltel would put Cellular South into its PRL. When I go to Birmingham I roam just northeast of Livingston til I get almost to Tuscalosa on RCC Unicel Analog....it sucks pretty much useless. I sure wish they would keep Sprint service through there. Actually if you look at the National Freedom plan it looks as if it should be. I was hoping that one day Alltel would actually pick up Unicel, as well as Centennial Wireless, as I would like native coverage down in Southwest Alabama(Butler/Demopolis) but their putting up GSM if I'm not mistaken? If Alltel had picked up Unicel and Centennial Wireless we would have been in good shape in this area.

[Chris L]

Originally Posted by jjdu42 God I hate RCC Unicel and their Analog roaming. I kinda wished Alltel would put Cellular South into its PRL. When I go to Birmingham I roam just northeast of Livingston til I get almost to Tuscalosa on RCC Unicel Analog....it sucks pretty much useless. I sure wish they would keep Sprint service through there. Actually if you look at the National Freedom plan it looks as if it should be. I was hoping that one day Alltel would actually pick up Unicel, as well as Centennial Wireless, as I would like native coverage down in Southwest Alabama(Butler/Demopolis) but their putting up GSM if I'm not mistaken? If Alltel had picked up Unicel and Centennial Wireless we would have been in good shape in this area.

Well, Alltel and Cellular South are basically direct competitors in most of Mississippi; I'm not surprised they don't play nicely with each other.

And, yes, Unicel is going GSM... mainly for roaming $$, since everyone else with a cellular (850) license in their territory except Cingular went CDMA.

[inquirer22]

I really wish they wouldn't do this rural/urban split. I live in one of the 7 counties in Kansas (out of 105) that Alltel doesn't cover. Though I work in the KC Metro Area, I travel quite a bit to other parts of Kansas and it isn't all on the interstate system.

I find it hard to believe that there aren't more people that complain about this Rural/Urban wireless divide. Its almost like being fenced in on one side unless you want to pay more for roaming (or read the fine print on these roam-free/extended plans). If Alltel would have extended coverage to NE Kansas (Topeka, Lawrence, KC) and NW Missouri (KC, ST Joe), I would have signed up with them in a heart beat. I don't care for Sprint, T-Mobile as their maps are basically cities and interstates. Cingular coverage maps have decreased as they go 100% GSM. Verizon covers rural areas here, but only through their cross roaming deal with Alltel which will expire in a few years. Though I don't have experience with either, I think I would rather go with Alltel than Verizon.

I guess the only way we will ever truly have a truly nation-wide service (as opposed to city/interstate-wide vs. rural) is if both Alltel & US-Cellular merge with Verizon.

Originally Posted by CrossroadsTech ALLTEL owned a share of Cingular's market... kind of like stock. They didn't run it or have major say in what happened in Kansas City. They only received a check as Cingular made money there. It makes more sense for ALLTEL to invest in markets IT RUNS, then in those run by other carriers, so that is why they traded their shares in of Kansas City. They did get the AT&T network/license in Wichita so basically all of Kansas except Kansas City Metro will be native ALLTEL. Right now ALLTEL's strategy is to become dominant in rural markets with little competition... offer good roaming deals to the Big-4 (Verizon, Cingular, T-Mobile, Sprint) so that they will stay out of these rural areas... and let ALLTEL become the carrier to have in the country. If they moved into KC, they would have to try to compete by offering less profitable plans... and investing tons in advertising.

[agentHibby]

Originally Posted by inquirer22 I really wish they wouldn't do this rural/urban split. I live in one of the 7 counties in Kansas (out of 105) that Alltel doesn't cover. Though I work in the KC Metro Area, I travel quite a bit to other parts of Kansas and it isn't all on the interstate system. I find it hard to believe that there aren't more people that complain about this Rural/Urban wireless divide. Its almost like being fenced in on one side unless you want to pay more for roaming (or read the fine print on these roam-free/extended plans). If Alltel would have extended coverage to NE Kansas (Topeka, Lawrence, KC) and NW Missouri (KC, ST Joe), I would have signed up with them in a heart beat. I don't care for Sprint, T-Mobile as their maps are basically cities and interstates. Cingular coverage maps have decreased as they go 100% GSM. Verizon covers rural areas here, but only through their cross roaming deal with Alltel which will expire in a few years. Though I don't have experience with either, I think I would rather go with Alltel than Verizon.

On all plans except for pre-pay plans you get free roaming with Verizon on Alltel or vice versa. 50% rule is only on Total Freedom plans not National Freedom or Americas Choice plans. They are able to do this because the roaming agreements between Verizon and Alltel are dirt cheap. (The fine print says they can deny service for if you do excessive minutes on your plan like spend 8000 night time minutes on Verizon network on a $49.99 plan.)
It all matter where you want a local number if need a local number in Topeka and Kansas City Metro go with Verizon. All other areas Alltel. In Wichita you can now choose Verizon or Alltel since Alltel got AT&T's network without customers there.

[inquirer22]

Just a few thoughts:

ALLTEL
Greater Freedom -- $49.99
(1000 anytime -- recently had a promotion to 1500)
National Freedom -- $49.99 (600 anytime)

Greater Freedom -- $59.99 (1200 anytime)
National Freedom -- $59.99 ( 900 anytime)
VZ
America's Choice -- $59.99 ( 900 anytime)

The reason I don't sign up for these is the price/anytime minutes. I would like to cut the cord and use only wireless, but the price/anytime is still not what I'm willing to pay. (I don't care about the night/weekend minutes as I don't make that many calls after 9pm, before 6am, nor do I spend all weekend on the phone.)

I don't mind the Greater Freedom costs, but unfortunately as stated, I cannot do that as I'm in the counties Alltel doesn't cover. If Greater Freedom had all of Kansas & KC/St Joe Missouri, I'd sign up and only use Alltel for my communications. I know that Vz used to have Local/Regional/Nationwide plans. Their regional plan wasn't bad as I recall. Unfortunately, at that time I didn't need a mobile phone.

As to having a local number (Lawrence - not Topeka nor KC for me), I know Vz can do that. However, that isn't that big a deal for me since there is number portability. I have my doubts about going with Vz as I heard they nickel/dime you on features. For instance, I think you have to add $1.99 for detailed billing. My experiences is you need the detail bill with any mobile plan in order to make sure you didn't get over charged.

I do still hope that Alltel will fill in come of the gaps in the map and not rely that much on Vz. I don't know when their roaming agreement expires, but I know it forever.

Originally Posted by agentHibby On all plans except for pre-pay plans you get free roaming with Verizon on Alltel or vice versa. 50% rule is only on Total Freedom plans not National Freedom or Americas Choice plans. They are able to do this because the roaming agreements between Verizon and Alltel are dirt cheap. (The fine print says they can deny service for if you do excessive minutes on your plan like spend 8000 night time minutes on Verizon network on a $49.99 plan.) It all matter where you want a local number if need a local number in Topeka and Kansas City Metro go with Verizon. All other areas Alltel. In Wichita you can now choose Verizon or Alltel since Alltel got AT&T's network without customers there.