Alltel to be AT&T in 2014

Source: The Times and Democrat, Orangeburg, S.文件倉C.Sept. 24--Alltel customers will not see any immediate changes to their service following the mobile phone carrier's purchase by AT&T on Friday.Josh Gelinas, AT&T spokesman, said for now Alltel customers will continue to use their Alltel phones and won't see any immediate changes to rate plans, network coverage, customer service contracts or processes for making monthly bill payments."We'll work hard to make the transition as easy and convenient as possible," Gelinas said.Alltel customers will need an AT&T phone when their service moves to the AT&T network, but will be able to keep their phone numbers after the transition is complete. The company will make the transition on a market-by-market basis over the next year.Before completing network upgrades and moving to AT&T, Alltel contract customers will be informed on how to get new, free comparable phones -- or purchase an upgraded phone -- and how to activate those phones on the AT&T network.Prepaid or no contract customers will have access to special offers for phones and rate plans during the transition.Alltel customers should look for more information on the transition to AT&T in early 2014.Gelinas said it was too early to know the impact on local Alltel stores or employees."For now, all store employees and dealers will operate business as usual," Gelinas said.According to Alltel's website, there is one wireless Alltel store in Orangeburg and one in Barnwell. There are four Alltel agents in Orangeburg, one in Santee, one in Holly Hill and one in Bamberg.Customers may continue to add lines and upgrade devices during the transition period."Alltel customers will get access to a network that combines the strength of the local Alltel coverage with AT&T's nationwide 4G coverage, with data speeds up to 10 times what they have today," Gelinas said. "The work required to transition the wireless network and customer support systems from Alltel to AT&T has just begun and will take several months to complete."The Federal Communications Commission approved AT&T's acquisition of Alltel assets Sept. 20, which includes about 155,000 customers across 18 South Caro存倉ina counties, including The T&D Region. Alltel has about 110 employees in South Carolina.The $780 million sale included spectrum licenses, network assets, retail stores and approximately 590,000 subscribers. The Alltel network covers approximately 4.5 million people in mainly rural areas in Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina.While acknowledging the deal will "likely cause some competitive and other public interest harms in several local markets," the FCC noted that AT&T has accepted a number of conditions, including the maintenance of one of Alltel's networks until at least June 2015.Meanwhile, 75 percent of Alltel's users will be granted access to Long Term Evolution (LTE) services on AT&T's network within 18 months of closing, rising to 85 percent within 36."We welcome Alltel customers to the AT&T family, and we think they will love everything they can do on our superfast 4G network," said Laurent Therivel, AT&T's vice president and general manager of Mobility and Consumer Markets in the Carolinas. "We've invested nearly $950 million in our wireless and wired networks in South Carolina since 2010, including nearly $140 million in the first half of 2013. And we'll continue to invest to bring fast mobile Internet service to more people across the state."Following network upgrades, Alltel will be rebranded as AT&T. All customers will also have an option to upgrade.Atlantic Tele-Network Inc. acquired Alltel's name, as well as its local customers, in 2009 following a merger between Verizon and what was then Alltel Wireless. As part of the merger, the government stipulated Verizon had to sell certain markets to maintain local competition, including customers in 18 South Carolina counties. ATNI has since operated as Alltel within the U.S.Alltel customers should verify their billing and email addresses are up to date by going to .alltel.com/myaccount. For further information, customers are encouraged to visit .att.com/Alltel for more information.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Times and Democrat (Orangeburg, S.C.) Visit The Times and Democrat (Orangeburg, S.C.) at thetandd.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉