Alltel, the wireless phone company, announced Sunday it has agreed to be sold to the Texas Pacific Group Capital and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners consortium of private equity firms for a $27.5 billion deal, the largest buyout ever in the telecommunications industry.

The transaction, announced Sunday night, ends months of speculation about the future of Alltel. Private equity interest for the company surfaced late last year and heated up in February when Alltel, the top rural US wireless provider, said during an earnings conference call it was reviewing its strategic options, sending its shares up in anticipation that it might be sold.

Under the terms of the deal, Texas Pacific and Goldman will pay $71.50 a share for the fifth-biggest US wireless company and the country's largest geographic network, some 9.6 percent higher than Alltel’s closing prince on May 18.

Scott Ford, Alltel's chief executive, was quoted in media reports as saying the buyout price is "a 10% premium over a price that clearly anticipated this outcome."

Several other private equity consortiums had lined up to bid, including the Blackstone Group with Providence Equity Partners, and the Carlyle Group with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

The deal is pending Alltel's shareholders and regulators approval. It is expected to close by March 2008.

Alltel has 12 million subscribers, the fifth-largest among major cell-phone companies, mostly in the Midwest, West and South. It has 15,000 employees.