Alltel plans to add 150 workers as it expands Boardman center

Already the Route 224 office has 400 employees.
BOARDMAN -- Alltel is adding 150 jobs in a $1.5 million expansion of its Boardman call center.
The expansion, which is to be completed in August, is needed because of additional customers added by Alltel's acquisitions of other cellular phone companies in 2004 and 2005, said Erin Ascione, a company spokeswoman.
The company said Boardman was chosen for an expansion because the area has provided "outstanding employees for close to 20 years."
The office at 474 Boardman-Canfield Road has nearly 400 employees. In addition to the call center, the office houses a retail store, a business sales group and administrative offices.
Delinquency collections
The new employees will make calls to customers with delinquent accounts, trying to arrange payments. Another group in the call center handles inbound calls from potential customers.
Alltel began taking construction bids on the expansion last month but said then that no jobs would be added.
The company moved its offices and call centers from Market Street to the Boardman-Canfield Road building in 2004. It spent $3.5 million to renovate 43,000 square feet in the building, but it didn't update an 18,000-square-foot section. This part of the building is being renovated in the current project.
Alltel, which is based in Little Rock, Ark., has about 10 million cellular phone customers.