Mergers and acquisitions abound in Alaska: telecom, design, and transportation among largest deals brokered.

• Author: White, Rindi
• Position: BUSINESS

The year 2014 was a year of shifting, merging, and occasional upheaval among Alaska businesses. One of the largest shifts, and one affecting perhaps the most direct consumers, was the decision in December by GCI to purchase the wireless subscriber base of Alaska Communications Systems. Global design firm Stantec purchased Alaska-based design firm USKH, giving Alaska companies and municipalities access to one of the top fifteen national design firms. Horizon Lines is in the process of selling its fifty-year Alaska cargo shipping business to longtime Hawaii-based cargo shipper, Matson.

Amid the larger-profile changes, a number of other changes, mergers, and shifts happened, from New York-based National Response Corporation buying environmental and emergency response company Emerald Alaska to Arctic Slope Regional Corporation acquiring Little Red Services, Inc.

Building the Second-Largest Wireless Provider in the State

The roughly $300 million deal, announced December 4, affected about 109,000 Alaska Communications wireless subscribers, nearly doubling GCI's customer base and making it the second-largest cell provider in the state, GCI spokesman David Morris says. He estimated after the transition is complete, GCI will hold about a third of the Alaska cell customer base, with AT&T holding the largest share of any wireless company in the state.

The remaining customer base is divided up among Matanuska Telephone Association, TelAlaska, Arctic Slope Telephone Association Cooperative, OTZ Telephone Cooperative, Bristol Bay Cellular Partnership, Copper Valley Telecom, Cordova Telephone Cooperative, and a handful of national providers operating in Alaska.

Morris says the purchase fits into the company's long-term strategy of growing to better serve its market.

"One thing that GCI excels at is adapting. If you look at GCI, we have adapted where the market led," Morris says. "When I started at GCI, there were three hundred people here. Now it's closer to two thousand. Everything that GCI has done has been market-driven."

The company is in the transition process, a stage Morris expects to last several months. But it should feel fairly seamless to Alaska Communications wireless customers, he says.

"If you have a contract with Alaska Communications, that will be grand-fathered in. Eventually, we'll work with the new customers that came over to see if we have something that will better suit their needs," Morris says.

"The challenge [with the transition] is that Alaska Communications has a very specific billing system. We have to, during this period, develop that system so it works with our back-office systems and, of course, we have to train our representatives not only on the new system, but on the new plans Alaska Communications has. We're contracted with Alaska Communications to provide one-on-one coaching to our staff," he says.

Alaska Communications to Focus on Core Business

With the purchase, Alaska Communications plans to focus on the largest part of its existing business, broadband and IT solutions. Wireless service made up about a third of the company's business profile.

"As many Alaskans know, there has never been more choice for wireless service. We are choosing to focus on the areas where we can uniquely serve Alaska--broadband and managed IT solutions. We have an incredible opportunity to grow in providing broadband and IT solutions to businesses. We have grown our broadband revenues every quarter for almost three years," says Heather Cavanaugh...