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TeleCorp acquisitions add 18M pops, $100M to coffers

ARLINGTON, Va.-After completing its merger with Tritel Inc. and swapping wireless properties and rights with AT&T Wireless Services Inc., TeleCorp PCS Inc. said it now has 18 million more people in its licensed service area and about $100 million.

Following several other major wireless license exchanges, AT&T Wireless and its affiliate TeleCorp traded wireless properties to improve both companies’ service areas. TeleCorp received about $80 million and licenses covering about 4 million people in Wisconsin and Iowa, and AT&T received TeleCorp’s systems in New England covering about 1.9 million people.

In a separate transaction, the completion of TeleCorp’s merger with Tritel, another AT&T Wireless affiliate, netted the company wireless licenses covering another 3 million people in Wisconsin and Iowa and about $20 million.

“Today marks the beginning of a new era for TeleCorp,” said Gerald T. Vento, TeleCorp’s chief executive officer. “We are not simply a larger TeleCorp; we are in fact a more powerful TeleCorp with even greater opportunities ahead. With our valuable markets and contiguous networks, we gain significant economies of scale.”

Vento will remain CEO of the new company, while Tritel’s chairman and CEO, William M. Mounger, will become the new company’s chairman.

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