Western Wireless Corporation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Western Wireless | |
|---|---|
| Type | Defunct: Purchased by Alltel |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Dissolved | 2005 |
| Headquarters |  Bellevue, Washington |
| Key people | John W. Stanton, founder and CEO |
| Industry | Wireless Services |
| Products | CDMA, AMPS |
| Website | Cellular One West, Western Wireless |
Western Wireless was a wireless telecommunications (i.e. cellular) provider in the western United States that specialized in rural service. It was founded by John W. Stanton.
Western Wireless Corporation primarily operated under the Cellular One brand. It had corporate offices in the Factoria area of Bellevue, Washington and Issaquah, WA. The company provided cellular services in 19 western, midwestern, and southwestern states.
Originally, VoiceStream Wireless PCS was a division of Western Wireless which was spun off in 1999. VoiceStream later became T-Mobile USA and is still headquartered in Bellevue, Washington where its former corporate parent was also based.
On January 10, 2005, Little Rock, Arkansas-based telecommunications provider Alltel announced it would buy Western Wireless in a $6 billion stock-and-cash transaction. The merger closed in August 2005.
[edit] WWI - Western Wireless International
Western Wireless also included an International division, WWI, with mobile licenses in several countries including: Austria (Tele.Ring), Ireland (Meteor Mobile Communications), Slovenia (Vega), Haiti (ComCel), Bolivia (NuevaTel PCS), Iceland (TAL), Croatia (vipnet) and also in Georgia, Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire. After the acquisition of Western Wireless by Alltel, the non-core international assets were sold off, with Meteor being sold to Irish telecoms incumbent, eircom and Tele.Ring becoming a brand of T-Mobile Austria. In Slovenia, the assets of Vega was split between the two main network operators there.
