Prospectus Summary
The following summary is qualified in its entirety by, and should be read in conjunction with, the more detailed information and the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto appearing elsewhere in this Prospectus. Unless the context otherwise requires, the term "Company" or "Western Wireless" when used in this Prospectus refers to Western Wireless Corporation, a Washington corporation which is the successor to a Delaware corporation pursuant to a reincorporation merger that will be effected prior to the consummation of the Debt Offering and the Offerings, and its subsidiaries and predecessors. All share and per share data in this Prospectus assume no exercise of the Underwriters' over-allotment options in the Offerings and the reclassification prior to the Offerings and the Debt Offering of each share of the Company's outstanding common stock, par value $0.001 per share, into 3.1 shares of the Company's Class B Common Stock, no par value (the "Class B Common Stock"), which together with the Company's Class A Common Stock, no par value (the "Class A Common Stock"), is referred to herein as the "Common Stock." In addition, all references to the Class B Common Stock prior to the date of the reclassification refer to the common stock, par value $0.001 per share, of Western Wireless Corporation. Unless the context otherwise requires, when used herein with respect to a licensed area, "persons" and "population" are interchangeable and refer to the aggregate number of persons located in such licensed area, and "pops" refers to the number of such persons in a licensed area multiplied by a company's ownership interest in the license for such licensed area. Persons, population and pops data are estimated for 1996 based upon 1995 estimates by Equifax Marketing Decision Systems, Inc. ("Equifax") adjusted by the Company by applying Equifax's growth factors from 1990 to 1995 to the 1990 U.S. Census Bureau population figures, unless otherwise specified.