Alltel Executives Meet With City Employees
Mar. 2–A trio of Alltel Corp. executives rolled into town Tuesday intent upon introducing themselves not to prospective wireless customers, but to the company’s future Oklahoma City employees.
Little Rock, Ark.-based Alltel bought the Oklahoma City area assets of AT&T Wireless Corp. in November and inherited about 90 employees and 10 company-owned retail stores in the deal. The acquisition, which requires federal regulatory approval, is expected to close in the second quarter.
Tuesday’s event brought Kevin L. Beebe, Alltel’s group president-operations, and two executives who will manage the company’s Oklahoma operations to the Marriott Hotel, where they introduced themselves to AT&T Wireless employees invited to the meeting.
“What we’ve tried to tell these folks this morning is that we understand that for the customers, one of the most important things is you,” Beebe said. “We want you to be excited about staying with us, because we understand that’s the first step to get the customers excited about staying with us.”
Beebe said Alltel will take over the properties as soon as federal approval is given. He was accompanied by Bill Oltean, who will serve as the company’s vice president for retail operations in Oklahoma, and Tony Ferguson, who will be director of business solutions.
The Alltel executives met with two groups of employees in Oklahoma City and, later, traveled to Wichita, Kan., where they introduced themselves to a third group in that city.
“This is our first chance to get over here and put a face on Alltel and answer their questions,” Oltean said.
Beebe said Alltel will take over the properties as soon as federal approval is given.
“We understand that we are going to have to come to town with an offer that will excite customers about staying with us,” Beebe said. “That will be more than just cool phones and neat technology, it’s going to be price. We’re working on details of all of that.”
Alltel recently announced plans to acquire wireless competitor Western Wireless for $4.4 billion in cash and stock. It will serve about 10 million customers in more than 26 states and be the nation’s fifth-largest wireless company when the merger is completed.
AT&T Wireless was bought by Cingular Wireless in 2004, but federal regulators forced Cingular to sell AT&T assets in Oklahoma City and certain other areas citing competitive reasons. A federally appointed trustee is operating the AT&T Wireless properties until the Alltel purchase is completed.
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