LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—An Alltel Corp. subsidiary extended its agreement with T-Mobile Austria GmbH for the sale of Alltel’s Austrian business, tele.ring.
Alltel acquired the international subsidiary, Western Wireless International Austria Corp., along with the rest of Western Wireless Corp. last year for $6 billion. Tele.ring is Austria’s fourth-largest wireless carrier with nearly a million customers.
Alltel signed the agreement to sell tele.ring to T-Mobile in mid-August, and the deal could have been terminated by either party if an extension had not been reached Tuesday. Alltel had noted in a statement that it expected to reach an extension, but that it was ready to “explore its options with parties who have indicated an interest in tele.ring” if the negotiations did not succeed.
The termination date of the $1.5 billion purchase agreement is now May 15, 2006. The transaction is expected to close by mid-year, and is subject to review by the European Commission.
T-Mobile has said that the acquisition would strengthen its position as the country’s second-largest operator; T-Mobile Austria has nearly 3 million customers and controls almost 40 percent of the country’s wireless market.
