In world of nationwide carriers, new rural carrier one step closer to forming: ATN CEO talks about imending purchase of former Alltel assets

Atlantic Tele-Network Inc. CEO Michael Prior thinks there is still a niche for smaller wireless carriers to compete against national players in rural areas. As such, AtlanticTele-Network plans to continue the innovation that was a hallmark of wireless provider Alltel once ATN closes on some of those former Alltel assets.
The Department of Justice earlier this week approved Atlantic Tele-Network’s proposed acquisition of spectrum licenses and other wireless assets in six states. The Federal Communications Commission still has to OK the sale before ATN can take over the properties, Prior said in an interview with RCR Wireless News. Once the acquisition is completed, ATN will own licenses serving about 800,000 people in rural areas in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Illinois, Ohio and Idaho.
ATN’s acquisition of the former Alltel assets is a repercussion of Verizon Wireless’ $28 billion acquisition of Alltel in January 2009, in a sense marking what was sure to be one of the last major acquisitions among U.S. wireless carriers. As part of that sale, the government forced VZW to sell about $3 billion of those assets to ensure competition in mostly rural areas. AT&T Mobility picked up roughly two-thirds of those assets, and ATN announced in June that it was buying former Alltel assets in six states. In September, the company hired former Alltel CMO Frank O’Mara to run the wireless carrier, which operates under the name Allied Wireless Communications Corp., and later said company headquarters would be in Little Rock, Ark. O’Mara was named an RCR Wireless News Mover and Shaker in 2008 for creating the Alltel “My Circle” calling feature, which was largely copied by other players and probably today is instrumental in helping to shape Sprint Nextel Corp.’s decision to include calls to anyone on any network in its calling plans.
ATN’s Prior noted that kind of innovation is why the company was interested in buying some of the former Alltel assets, and why the company has been hiring former Alltel employees to operate the new business. About 500 employees in the field will become Allied employees once the sale is completed, and the carrier announced plans to hire about 200 people for its corporate headquarters.
While the sale is in transition, the customers on the CDMA network receive service under the Alltel brand name and Prior said he expects that to continue after the purchase is completed. “For at least the short term, we’ll continue to use the Alltel name.” In fact, Prior said the name for the subsidiary that is operating the assets, Allied Wireless Communications, was chosen because of its Alltel brand connection – Allied is reminiscent of the competitive local exchange carrier from which Alltel was borne.
Atlantic Tele-Network is not a traditional wireless consolidator, Prior said. A quick look at the Salem, Mass.-based company assets underscores Prior’s comments. Along with the pending purchase of some of the Alltel assets, the company owns Commnet Wireless, which provides voice and data wireless roaming services for U.S. and international carriers in rural areas throughout the United States; Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Co. Ltd., which is the national telephone service provider for all local, long-distance and international services, as well as a wireless service provider in Guyana; Bermuda Digital Communications Ltd., which is the leading provider of wireless voice and data services in Bermuda operating as Cellular One, and an early-stage wireless provider in Turks & Caicos through its IslandCom subsidiary; Sovernet, Inc., which provides wireline voice and data services to businesses and homes in New England and high capacity communications network transport services in New York State through its ION subsidiary; and Choice Communications, which provides wireless broadband services in the U.S. Virgin Islands.