Dateline: January 8, 2004

Local Internet provider merges with ARNet

AMARILLO – AMA•TechTel Communications President Lehmer Dunn and Daniel Hudson, president of ARNet, Inc., have jointly announced the merger of their West Texas-based communications companies.

“We are excited about joining two major players in our industry to form one of the area’s largest locally-owned, integrated communications providers,” Dunn said. 

AMA•TechTel provides high-speed wireless Internet service to the communities of Clarendon, Hedley, and Howardwick and to most of the rural areas of Donley County.

The combined company will have a customer base of approximately 30,000 business and residential customers throughout the Panhandle, South Plains, and Permian Basin region. 

ARNet’s merger with AMA•TechTel gives customers the opportunity to take advantage of additional products and services such as local and long distance telephone service, high-speed wireless and DSL Internet access, telephone equipment, data networking solutions, and e-commerce. Customers choosing additional services will pay less for those services than they would if they used multiple providers.

“All customers of the company will experience the same quality service, competitive prices, and outstanding technical support they have come to expect,” stated Hudson.  “I am pleased to have the opportunity to bring the distinct advantages of each company to the loyal customers of both.”

“We are focused and committed to providing comprehensive communication services for many years to come for the residents and businesses of Amarillo, Lubbock, Midland, Odessa, and the surrounding areas,” said Sam Attebury, owner of the combined company. 

“We have been in the service business for 50 years with Attebury Grain; customer service is not new to us. We fully intend to exhibit the same longevity and dedication in the communications industry as we have in the grain industry,”  Attebury said.

Over the past 18 months, AMA•TechTel has successfully integrated through acquisition 1 Source Technologies (Amarillo-based ISP), Adobe Walls Internet (Amarillo-based ISP), and Master-E Networks (Amarillo-based network/cabling company). These acquisitions have added greater depth to an already well-established company. 

ARNet, one of the first Internet service companies in West Texas, was founded in 1995.  AMA Online was also established in 1995, offering Internet service in Amarillo and the Panhandle region and grew to national prominence as a major provider of fixed wireless Internet service. 

In 2003, Texas Tech University selected AMA•TechTel to design, build, and manage a wireless communications infrastructure backbone reaching from Amarillo to Lubbock to Hobbs, New Mexico.

In 2002, AMA•TechTel Communications was created with the merger of AMA Online and TechTel Communications. TechTel Communications, a Lubbock-based company, was one of the first Competitive Local Exchange Carriers to offer DSL connectivity along with local and long distance telephone service.

Dunn will remain president of the combined company; the management team will consist of individuals from both companies. ARNet and AMA•TechTel employees will join to provide continued service to Amarillo, Lubbock, and neighboring regions.

For more information, contact Leslie Rhodes at 806/722-2299 or lrhodes@amatechtel.com.

For information about AMA•TechTel’s high-speed wireless Internet service, contact the authorized local distributor, The Clarendon Enterprise, at 806/874-2259.