TELECOMMUNICATIONS Alltell to consolidate offices at former Ames

The company operates two call centers locally.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
BOARDMAN -- Alltel is consolidating two of its offices in Boardman and moving them into the former Ames store on Boardman-Canfield Road.
Remodeling work has started, and the communications company expects the 380 workers in the two offices to be working from the new location by the end of the year.
Alltel operates a retail store, administration office and call center at 7206 Market St. and a call center at 3701 Boardman-Canfield Road.
"Grouping these business units into a common building will allow our company to function more efficiently and create more room for call center growth," said Jay Ortman, vice president of retail services in Ohio.
Both of the current locations are leased, as is the new one.
The Boardman-Canfield Road call center has about 230 workers. It handles billing issues with customers across the country.
The Market Street office has 20 workers in the retail store and administration offices and 130 in a call center that handles general customer service issues.
The move will not add any new jobs, said Erin Ascione, communications manager for Alltel.
The company started call center operations in Boardman 19 years ago.
Switching center
Alltel also has a switching center at 8086 Southern Boulevard, which has about 10 workers. The company doubled the size of the center last year because of growth in its system. All of Alltel's calls in the region are routed through the center, either to a land telephone line or to a cellular tower.
The Ames store has been vacant since 2002 when the discount retailer closed stores in Boardman, Austintown, Niles and Grove City, Pa. The Boardman store had 60 employees.
Alltel, which is based in Little Rock, Ark., has 13 million customers and $8 billion in annual revenues. It provides wireless, local and long-distance telephone, Internet and high-speed data services in 26 states.