ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS

ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS

1. ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS

        The Company provides wireless and wireline telecommunications services in North America, Bermuda and the Caribbean. Through its operating subsidiaries, the Company offers the following principal services:

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  Wireless.  In the United States, the Company offers wireless voice and data services to retail customers under the "Alltel" name in rural markets located principally in the Southeast and Midwest. Additionally, the Company offers wholesale wireless voice and data roaming services to national, regional, local and selected international wireless carriers in rural markets located principally in the Southwest and Midwest. The Company also offers wireless voice and data services to retail customers in Guyana under the "Cellink" name, in Bermuda under the "CellOne" name and in other smaller markets in the Caribbean and the United States.

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  Wireline.  The Company's local telephone and data services include its operations in Guyana and the mainland United States. The Company is the exclusive licensed provider of domestic wireline local and long distance telephone services in Guyana and international voice and data communications into and out of Guyana. The Company also offers facilities-based integrated voice and data communications services to enterprise and residential customers in New England, primarily in Vermont, and wholesale transport services in New York State.

        In the second quarter of 2011, the Company completed the merger of its Bermuda operations with M3 Wireless, Ltd., a leading retail wireless provider in Bermuda. For more information on the merger in Bermuda, see Note 4. The Company actively evaluates additional investment and acquisition opportunities in the United States and the Caribbean that meet the Company's return-on-investment and other acquisition criteria.

        The following chart summarizes the operating activities of the Company's principal subsidiaries, the segments in which the Company reports its revenue and the markets it served as of December 31, 2012:

Services	Segment	Markets	Tradenames
Wireless	U.S. Wireless	United States (rural markets)	Alltel, Choice
	Island Wireless	Aruba, Bermuda, Turks and Caicos, U.S. Virgin Islands	Mio, CellOne, Islandcom, Choice
	International Integrated Telephony	Guyana	Cellink
Wireline	International Integrated Telephony	Guyana	GT&T, eMagine
	U.S. Wireline	United States (New England and New York State)	Sovernet, ION

        The Company provides management, technical, financial, regulatory, and marketing services to its subsidiaries and typically receives a management fee equal to a percentage of their respective revenue. Management fees from consolidated subsidiaries are eliminated in consolidation. For information about the Company's business segments and geographical information about its revenue, operating income and long-lived assets, see Note 14 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Report.