AT&T completed its previously announced acquisition of Atlantic Tele-Network’s U.S. retail wireless assets, which operated under the Alltel brand, for $780 million.
The deal includes wireless properties in six states, including spectrum licenses, network assets, retail stores and approximately 590,000 subscribers. The former Alltel network covers approximately 4.5 million people in mainly rural areas in Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina.
AT&T plans to move customers to the AT&T network by midyear 2014.
- $780,000,000 / 590,000 subscibers = $1,322 per subscriber
- Alltel operates a CDMA network covering approximately 4.6 million people in primarily rural areas across six states — Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina. Once the network is upgraded to 4G, AT&T said the Alltel assets will be complementary to its own network. Alltel’s spectrum is in the 700 MHz, 850 MHz and 1900 MHz bands.
- The current Alltel brand, which is owned by Atlantic Tele-Network, was formed in early 2010 following ATNI’s acquisition of wireless properties, licenses and network assets from Verizon Wireless, which was required by the FCC to sell these coverage areas.
- In January 2009, Verizon Communications acquired the original Alltel Corporation for approximately $5.9 billion. The FCC and the Department of Justice required Verizon to divest assets in 100 areas in 22 states to win approval for the deal.
- The original Alltel traced its heritage back to the foundation of the Allied Telephone Company in Arkansas in 1943.
