Alltel Wireless was a wireless service provider , primarily based in the United States. 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.

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.

The merger was approved by the Federal Communications Commission on the condition that Verizon divest Alltel markets. On April 26, , Atlantic Tele-Network acquired the remaining 26 divested Alltel markets, including licenses, network assets and , subscribers. In , 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 , 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 when Allied Telephone and Mid-Continent Telephone merged.

Alltel Acquired For $B - CBS News

Mid-Continent Telephone was originally a theatre company and started in by Eddie Ruben and Joe L. In , Alltel launched its first wireless system in Charlotte, North Carolina. In , Alltel opened its first wireless retail store. In , the company's wireless and wireline businesses were combined into a single organization.

On December 9, , Alltel announced that it would become a wireless-only company, simultaneously merging and building a spin-off company for its wireline services. The merger-spinoff process ended July 17, when Windstream began operations. On May 20, , Alltel announced an agreement to be sold to two private-equity firms: TPG Capital and GS Capital Partners. Native Alltel markets consisted of both analog AMPS and digital CDMA technologies. Virtually 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.

The analog systems were retired by the end of While Alltel had not outlined its future path, merger partner Verizon Wireless has already announced plans to switch to GSM-based LTE.

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. After Alltel's November announcement that Campbell-Ewald of Detroit would be their primary advertising agency, [20] Alltel used lookalikes of rival cell phone companies' primary advertising characters along with Alltel's spokesman, [21] played by comedian Chad Brokaw.

The characters, not our lawyers. 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. 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 ".

Alltel stock jumps on $25 billion buyout | Reuters

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.

As of , they added a snobbish wizard into the ads. The campaign included a MySpace page , and Campbell-Ewald Digital created The Man Cave with its own web site. 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 In , 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.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Alltel Wireless Former type. Archived from the original on October 21, Archived from the original on November 3, White of was named Co-chair of Operations in the transmittal department of tower relations. Levere, "In Wireless Competition, Mockery Is the Latest Style", The New York Times , August 7, What happened to the Sprint guy? Stephenson — Chairman and CEO Joyce M.

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