ATN acquiring some of Verizon's Alltel assets for $200M

Atlantic Tele-Network, a Salem, Mass.-based telecommunications company, is paying $200 million for some of the assets Verizon Wireless agreed to divest as part of its purchase of Alltel.

The properties, which include wireless spectrum licenses and network assets, cover over 800,000 subscribers primarily in rural areas across Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina. The ATN deal is subject to regulatory approval from the FCC and the U.S. Department of Justice, and is expected to close in the third or fourth quarter of this year.

Verizon agreed to divest 105 markets (including some of its own markets) as a regulatory condition of its $28.1 billion acquisition of Alltel, which closed in January. Ninety-one of those markets are run by an Alltel trust and serve around 2.2 million subscribers. The ATN deal brings Verizon much closer to getting rid of all the required assets.

Alltel has said it would continue with "business as usual" in the 91 markets until they are purchased. AT&T is buying 79 of the markets operated by the trust for $2.35 billion, though that deal is subject to regulatory approval. The 79 markets AT&T is buying span 18 states and cover around 1.5 million subscribers. AT&T expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter.

For more:
- see this release [1]

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