NEW YORK-Three-sixty Communications Co. and Alltell Mobile Communications Inc. announced a signed agreement for a joint marketing and technology alliance in the Carolinas and Georgia.
The new alliance is designed to permit the companies to offer their customers an expanded coverage area that includes about 84,000 square miles in North Carolina, South Carolina and parts of Georgia.
“This unparalleled service cluster*…*will allow our customers to have broad, uninterrupted service areas,” said Dennis Foster, president and chief executive officer of Three-sixty. “Alliances such as this one are crucial strategic initiatives to better position ourselves in our marketplace and leverage our advantage of being in the market first.”
The companies also have agreed to work together to enhance current services, share technologies and develop new features. The exact nature of these “is yet to be explored,” said Steve Eddington, public relations supervisor for Alltel Mobile.
“We are pleased to enter this alliance, which not only enables us to expand our coverage area but also enhances the range and quality of offerings we provide,” said Dennis L. Whipple, Alltel Mobile president. The company will retain its corporate brand identity in its coverage areas in the new alliance, Eddington said.
Palmetto MobileNet L.P., based in Cayce, S.C., also will participate in the agreement. It is owned by 18 South Carolina telephone companies, and has a 50 percent ownership interest in eight cellular South Carolina Rural Service Area licenses covering 34 counties, 21,000 square miles and a population of about 1.45 million. Palmetto has general partnership agreements with Three-sixty and Alltel Mobile in various rural service areas in South Carolina. Three-sixty and Alltel Mobile manage the daily operations in those general partnerships.
