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November 18, 1999
TRITEL INC (TTEL)
S-1 Filing (SEC form S1)
We are an AT&T Wireless affiliate with licenses to provide personal communications services, called PCS, to approximately 14.0 million people in contiguous markets in the south-central United States. While we are a development stage enterprise with limited operations, have had no significant revenues and expect to have significant operating losses in our initial stages of operations, we have recently begun to provide wireless services in five of our major markets. In January 1999, we entered into our affiliation agreement with AT&T Wireless, our largest stockholder with 21.9% ownership of our company prior to this offering. We have also joined with two other AT&T Wireless affiliates to operate under a common regional brand name, SunCom. We provide our PCS services as a member of the AT&T Wireless Network, serving as the preferred roaming provider to AT&T Wireless' digital wireless customers in virtually all of our markets and co-branding our services to our subscribers with the AT&T and SunCom brands and logos, giving equal emphasis to each.
Our senior management team has substantial experience in the wireless communications industry, with a significant operating history in the south- central United States. We have commenced commercial PCS services in five markets and intend to launch commercial operations in eight of our ten largest markets by the end of 1999. We expect to be able to provide service to over 50% of the population, called Pops, in our license areas by the end of 1999 and to over 98% by the end of 2000.
The following table sets forth our ten largest markets and the date on which we have commenced or expect to commence commercial PCS service.
Expected Commercial
Market Launch Date 1998 Pops
----------------------------------------- ----------------------- ---------
Jackson and Vicksburg, MS................ Launched September 1999 719,500
Knoxville, TN............................ Launched November 1999 1,074,000
Chattanooga and Cleveland, TN/Dalton,
GA...................................... Launched November 1999 760,800
Huntsville, AL........................... Launched November 1999 496,400
Montgomery, AL........................... Launched November 1999 475,300
Nashville and Clarksville,
TN/Hopkinsville, KY..................... November 1999 1,936,500
Louisville, KY........................... December 1999 1,448,400
Lexington, KY............................ December 1999 893,400
Birmingham, AL........................... 2nd Quarter 2000 1,297,800
Mobile, AL............................... 2nd Quarter 2000 653,900
Strategic Alliance with AT&T Wireless and our SunCom Partners
Our affiliation with AT&T Wireless is an integral part of our strategy. AT&T Wireless contributed PCS licenses covering 9.1 million Pops to us in exchange for its ownership stake in our company. As an AT&T Wireless affiliate, we enjoy numerous important benefits, including the following:
. Use of AT&T Brand and Logo. We believe the AT&T brand is among the most
recognized brands in the United States. We have the right to use the
AT&T and SunCom brand names and logos in our markets, giving equal
emphasis to each.
. Preferred Provider of PCS to AT&T Wireless Customers. As a member of the
AT&T Wireless Network, we are the preferred provider of mobile wireless
services to AT&T Wireless' digital wireless customers in virtually all
of our markets. We believe our AT&T Wireless affiliation will continue
to provide us with a consistent base of recurring roaming revenue.
. Coast-to-Coast Coverage. We are able to offer our customers immediate,
coast-to-coast roaming on the AT&T Wireless Network. We believe that our
ability to offer coast-to-coast coverage is a competitive advantage as
customers increasingly choose national rate plans.
We have also entered into an agreement with two other AT&T Wireless affiliates, Triton PCS, Inc. and TeleCorp PCS, Inc., to operate with those affiliates under a common regional brand name, SunCom, throughout an area covering approximately 43 million Pops primarily in the south-central and southeastern United States. Our license area is adjacent to and between the license areas of our SunCom partners.
Business Strategy
Our goal is to become the leading wireless provider in our markets. In addition to leveraging our relationship with AT&T Wireless and our SunCom partners, our strategies to realize this goal are to:
. Operate a High Quality Network. We are committed to making the capital
investment required to develop and operate a superior, high quality
network utilizing digital technology. We own an average of approximately
27 MHz of spectrum per Pop in our markets and believe we have sufficient
capacity to provide high quality service in each of our markets.
. Emphasize Advantages of PCS Technology. We will seek to distinguish our
PCS services from those of our analog cellular competitors by
emphasizing the features and benefits of our digital services. These
features include superior voice quality, extended battery life,
integrated voicemail, paging and fax service, wireless e-mail delivery,
and enhanced voice privacy.
. Exploit Advantages of Our License Footprint. We believe that the
contiguous nature of our license areas and their similar size and
demographics are attractive for the provision of wireless services.
Additionally, we believe that our central location within the SunCom
territory will enable us to take full advantage of the benefits of the
SunCom brand alliance.
. Capitalize on Management Expertise and Local Market Presence. We intend
to combine the AT&T and SunCom brands with our management's extensive
local market operating experience to create strong ties with subscribers
and their communities.
. Distribute Directly Through Our Company Stores and Sales Force. We will
focus principally on direct distribution through a network of company
stores and a dedicated sales force in order to foster higher quality
customer contact, which we believe will result in lower customer
acquisition costs and greater customer loyalty.
. Utilize Strong Capital Base. Upon completion of this offering, we will
have raised approximately $1.3 billion of funded and available capital.
We believe that, based on our current business plan, this capital base
will be sufficient to fund capital expenditures and operating losses
until we complete our planned network buildout and generate positive
cash flow. |
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