LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Alltel today announced agreements to sell the Cellular One brand to Dobson Cellular Systems, Inc., and a Rural Service Area (RSA) market in southwest Arkansas to Cingular Wireless LLC, a joint venture of AT&T Inc., formerly SBC Communications, and BellSouth Corporation. The agreements, subject to federal regulatory approval, will complete divestiture requirements related to Alltel's merger with Western Wireless Corp.
Alltel will receive $1.3 million in cash from Dobson for the Cellular One brand and expects to the close transaction before the end of the year.
Terms of the Cingular transaction, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2006, were not disclosed. The Arkansas wireless market covers Hempstead, Nevada, Lafayette and Columbia counties. Alltel will retain ownership of the wireless property in those counties that it operated prior to the merger with Western Wireless.
The financial and legal advisers for Alltel in the transactions were Daniels & Associates L.P. and Kutak Rock LLP.
Alltel is a customer-focused communications company with more than 15 million customers in 36 states and nearly $10 billion in annual revenues.
Alltel claims the protection of the safe-harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are subject to uncertainties that could cause actual future events and results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on estimates, projections, beliefs, and assumptions and are not guarantees of future events and results. Actual future events and results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements as a result of a number of important factors. Representative examples of these factors include (without limitation) adverse changes in economic conditions in the markets served by Alltel; the extent, timing, and overall effects of competition in the communications business; material changes in the communications industry generally that could adversely affect vendor relationships with equipment and network suppliers and customer relationships with wholesale customers; changes in communications technology; the risks associated with pending acquisitions and dispositions, including the pending acquisition of the Idaho markets and the pending dispositions of Western Wireless' Kansas and Nebraska markets and international assets; the risks associated with the integration of acquired businesses, including the integration of Western Wireless; the uncertainties related to any discussions or negotiations regarding the sale of any of the international assets or the wireline repositioning; adverse changes in the terms and conditions of the wireless roaming agreements of Alltel; the uncertainties related to Alltel's strategic investments; the effects of litigation; and the effects of federal and state legislation, rules, and regulations governing the communications industry. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes.
