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Verizon Wireless To Buy Alltel For $28B
CWmike writes "Matt Hamblen reports that Verizon Wireless has officially announced an agreement to purchase Alltel for $28.1 billion, which would make the new company the largest wireless carrier in the U.S., with 80 million subscribers. The deal will undoubtedly provoke scrutiny by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice, they acknowledge. Who loses? 'This [deal] is another nail in the coffin for Sprint," said Michael Voellinger, an analyst at Telwares in Parsippany, N.J. 'Alltel is a highly valuable and strategic roaming partner to the top four providers, and this acquisition would put long-term pressure on pricing and terms of those arrangements.'"
In my area, there are two choices if you wish service outside the metro....Verizon and Alltel. I've been with Alltel for a couple of years and I switched from Verizon. I left Verizon for a reason, and I'm sure many of you know what that is. Poor customer service, billed for things I didn't have, etc, /etc. Alltel has had a few issues with my account, but at least they've resolved them when I call in.
Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!
brandelf -t FreeBSD
As many market watchers have pointed out the weaken US economy combined with a likely end to the lazafaire practices of the Bush administration means there are likely to be a fairly large number of mergers started in Q2 and Q3 so that they can get past regulators before a new government is in place.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
However, having a $22 Billion debt is not good for Alltel customers, either. They may have "America's largest network" but they don't exactly have America's largest customer base, (The article I read this morning had them at about 15% and 20% of the Verizon and AT&T customer base, respectively) and in order to continue providing to its customers, the company needs some relief.
Is this a good thing? Maybe. I'd like to think the two networks will operate under a large umbrella and Verizon and Alltel might remain as independent as possible, just provide a more complete network coverage.
Is this a bad thing? Maybe. Alltel customers may be turned off if sudden phone lockdowns come out of this.
Guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Those who believe the Internet is private,
find their privates are on the Internet.
As a very happy Alltel customer I am not sure what to think of this. While being part of a larger provider does offer more features and phones and what not, Alltel is crazy liberal with what they let you do with your phone. Basically if the MFG supports it, GO FOR IT! Verizon on the other hand is the exact opposite. If you don't pay for their branded apps (other than hacking) you don't get it.
Unstable Apps: Our Android Apps Don't Suck
I had verizon. I hated the phone lockdown. So I switched to Midwest Wireless. They were awesome. They didn't mess with the phones. They were friendly. If you canceled or got a new phone they would prorate the cancellation penalty (If you sign a 2 year contract, and cancel after 1 year, you would only pay half the penalty, etc).
Alltel bought Midwest Wireless. I can't get google calendar notifications (until very recently) anymore. Not so friendly. I was pondering leaving Alltel.
It's full circle, if Verizon buys Alltel, I'm back with Verizon.
Fuck it. Time to get an iPhone.
Running nothing of Note? Nextel IS the phone of large companies.
NexTel started out as fleet dispatch frequencies and moved into the cell phone range. NexTel has always been an excellent niche between 2 way radios and full blown cell phones.
Our factories have numerous repeaters in them so that we have full coverage in the building. Push to Talk is used constantly. It seems to be the same for all other friends of mine that work in the manufacturing world. AT&T, Verizon are great for upper management and executives but anyone that might get grease on their hands uses a NexTel
J2ME, BREW is all junk for our work. Most of our phones show 4 lines of black on green. They'll all survive a drop from a second story building, being plunged under water and being left in dash in the sun. The batteries also last twice as long as any 'consumer' cell phone I've used.
NexTel definitely has something to bring to the table.
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While I've never used them AllTel has seemed to drive a bit of competition. First they had the "5 friends" thing then it seems everyone had that. Now they're up to "Any friend on any network" which other people seem to be copying.
Verizon now has a network that no one will be able to touch for years. Even if ATT bought everyone else it wouldn't have such dominate coverage (That's after getting the technology integrated). In the end ATT will never be able to catch up. Verizon and Alltel are both on the same path to LTE, will have little to no technology integration issues and will save billions in operating and roaming costs. Between their acquisition of MCI, FIOS TV and Internet and now this dominating wireless coverage they pretty much own any kind of retail data you could want to purchase. Wimax is going to be relegated as the last huge failure by Sprint as they fade into the background. Only thing to do is sit back and wait for the commercial where the VZW guy stretches his hand out to Chad and says "Your not such a bad guy". As Chad cracks a tear and puts his hand out the VZW guy rips it off and beats him to death with it.