Following the hot consolidation trend, ALLTEL Corp., the sixth largest U.S. mobile operator, confirmed today it plans to buy Western Wireless Corp., which owns the Cellular One brand serving more than 1 million customers. The deal is worth $6.2 billion.
ALLTEL says the acquisition will make it the nation’s fifth largest wireless carrier. The enlarged company is expected to have annual revenue of around $10 billion.
“The wireless industry is gravitating swiftly to a smaller number of large national and regional players,” said John W. Stanton, chairman and CEO of Western Wireless. “The combination of Western Wireless with ALLTEL creates a rural operator using multiple technologies with the largest footprint in the country. We believe that combining forces is in the best interests of our shareholders, customers and employees.”
ALLTEL will add wireless operations in nine new states: California, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. The transaction also expands its wireless operations in several other states, including Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.
