ALLTEL has corporate offices in 55 countries.

 ALLTEL: A Pioneer in Wireless Information  Expands in Triad Area

 CHARLOTTE, NC - Ten new ALLTEL wireless retail stores recently opened in North Carolina, brokered by Divaris Real Estate. Fifteen ALLTEL stores and kiosks were already doing brisk business in North Carolina's Triad area when new facilities opened in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Lenoir, Charlotte, Cornelius, Fayetteville and Sanford, North Carolina. Other new locations have opened in South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and Florida. DRE is ALLTEL's preferred representative in Richmond, Newport News, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Norfolk, Virginia, as well as in Tampa, Florida, Charlotte, NC, Atlanta, GA, Phoenix, AZ and Albuquerque, NM.

"We bring almost 30 years of experience in information technology," a member of ALLTEL's information services division explains. "We help customers manage cutting-edge information services. Whether you need support in desktop, mid-range or mainframe technology, we have the skills and experience to make it work."

"ALLTEL can offer customers a comprehensive and integrated set of communications and information services," said Kevin Beebe, communications group president. "ALLTEL continues to be at the forefront of efforts to make wireless services simple, easy, productive and convenient for customers."

In 1954, when Allied Telephone executives agreed to incorporate, phone technology was still trying to solve the long-distance challenge. People still had party lines, with several neighbors sharing a phone line and recognizing one another's calls by distinctive rings. Phone numbers still went by neighborhood exchanges. In the old movies, Cary Grant might call out to a Manhattan operator, "Get me Murray Hill 7-0-1-2-3." Towns had local operators, who, if the town was small enough, would know each customer's name and phone number, not to mention their personal business. New phones had rotary dials. Older models still had an earhorn, which the customer held to her head as she cranked a handle on the side of the phone, shouting into a little mouthpiece, "Operator, can you hear me?"

As they signed the incorporation papers, never in their wildest dreams could those executives have imagined what the future would bring to ALLTEL.

Now a leader in the telecommunications industry, ALLTEL has corporate offices in 55 countries and provides services to over 9 million customers, with $6.5 billion in annual revenues. Headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, it is the nation's fifth-largest wireless communications company. Wireless communication begins with the familiar cell phone, and moves on to computer systems, satellite transmitters and superconductors. 

The first 30 years of telephone technology dealt only with voice transmission. Information was communicated in other ways, such as in print. Today, changes in technology have blended voice and data services. Written information can go across the globe through the Internet and via satellite, as fast as the spoken word. Access to rapid-paced information/communication solutions is critical for competitive businesses today.

ALLTEL makes access to solutions easy: it provides one-stop retail stores where wireless, paging, long-distance and Internet services are demonstrated and can be purchased. The first of these "wireless retail shops" opened in 1993, and at 1,600 square feet, it was designed to be customer-friendly, staffing its stores with representatives who help with product and service understanding. Larger facilities, such as the 30,000-square-foot location at Five Columbus Center in Virginia Beach, the 65,000-square-foot call center in Phoenix, and the 73,030 square feet in netp@rk.tampabay in Florida have come on board to showcase innovations, to service customers and to serve as corporate think tanks. All of these facilities, together with numerous retail stores, were secured through the services of Divaris Real Estate. 

In the few years wireless telephony has been available, ALLTEL service has changed some lives very dramatically. During Hurricane Floyd, Georgia ALLTEL staff stayed through the evacuation and flooding, answering emergency calls and referring rescue teams. 

"We did what anybody would do," employees said. Another team stayed at work through tornadoes to field emergency calls.

Community crime prevention groups have taken cell phones into the neighborhoods and have been able to call police and stop crimes in progress. The Saint James Estates' Community of Charleston, South Carolina, reports a significant increase in neighborhood safety since it formed "COPPS," a partnership with an ALLTEL liaison to law enforcement. ALLTEL donated phones and air time. Thirty similar crime-prevention programs are now in place. ALLTEL also donates phones and air time to prevent domestic abuse.

At the fore of the wireless Internet industry, ALLTEL is a pioneer in personal satellite-relayed information services. Recent high-tech wireless developments by Superconductor Technology Industries, contracted to ALLTEL, have furthered ALLTEL's industry lead.