GCI buys ACS wireless base, plans no service interruption

ANCHORAGE — General Communication, Inc. has agreed to buy Alaska Communication System’s wireless base, according to a press release.

The deal is worth $300 million. Under the terms of the sale, ACS’s 109,000 customers will transition to GCI without any interruption in service, according to the release. Company officials aren’t sure how many ACS customers are in the Valley, though the company does maintain a store near the intersection of the Parks and Palmer-Wasilla highways.

The two companies had already formed a collaborative network in July 2013 called the Alaska Wireless Network. Under the terms of the agreement, GCI retained two-thirds ownership with ACS owning the remaining third.

“The transaction was designed to position the two companies to better compete against national wireless carriers,” the release reads in part.

GCI has aired a series of advertisements targeting Verizon, who entered the Valley’s increasingly competitive wireless market in August through a joint venture with the Matanuska Telephone Association.

The agreement will allow either entity to pursue its own strategy, company CEOs said.

Under the terms of the transaction, which is on-track to close at the end of the first quarter 2015, ACS will continue to pursue sales of high-speed Internet connections.

“That’s our most profitable area,” she said.

GCI was founded in 1979. ACS was founded in 1999. Both companies are headquartered in Anchorage.