Alltel Creates Five Market Areas

In a move to better organize its business, ALLTEL Corp.(Little Rock, AR) has formed five operating regions and has named the key executives who will be responsible for marketing of communications products and services, maintaining the carrier's customer service and managing bottom-line success in the regions. The regional headquarters will be located in Charlotte, NC; Cleveland, OH; Little Rock, AR; Phoenix, AZ; and Tampa, FL.

On Feb. 1, Alltel announced it would exchange wireless properties in 13 states with Bell Atlantic and GTE Corp. (See Bell Atlantic, GTE, Alltel Agree to Exchange Wireless Operations in 13 States) The transactions are expected to close by mid-year, and at that time, Alltel will gain about 14 million POPs (population served), and about 750 net customers. The companies also signed a new 10-year national roaming agreement, which will allow their customers to roam on each other's networks at reciprocal rates across a footprint that covers almost 95% of the U.S. population.

"The changes we are announcing today are necessary to manage a business that, after the close of the transactions, will add a 15% increase in the number of wireless customers to Alltel overnight," said Kevin Beebe, Alltel communications group president. "This new organizational structure will give us five balanced clusters that average more than $1 billion in total telecommunications revenue—wireless, wireline (including competitive local exchange carrier business), paging, Internet access, and long-distance—and 1 million customers.

Beebe also named the five regional presidents, who will direct communications operations in the regions and will report to him. Reporting to the presidents will be market area presidents who will manage specific geographic areas within these regions. The regions will be composed of portions of selected states served by Alltel. Region headquarters locations, market area headquarters locations, and key executives are:

• Mid-Atlantic: Headquarters, Charlotte. States: Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. Region president, Dan Lohr.
• Southeast: Headquarters, Tampa. States: Florida, Georgia and Alabama. Region president, Dan Thompson.
• Northern: Headquarters, Cleveland. States: Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky. Region president, George A. Page.
• Central: Headquarters, Little Rock. States: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, and Texas. Region president, Dave Atkins.
• Southwest: Headquarters, Phoenix. States: Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and the El Paso, TX, market. Region president, Philip Junker.

The formation of the Mid-Atlantic and Central region management teams will begin immediately. The teams for the other three regions will be formed when Alltel assumes management responsibilities of those markets.

Edited by Ellen Jensen