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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.'"
1. Nails
2. Hammer
3. Coffin
4. Profit!!!
Now our only choices will be AT&T and Verizon.
I for one welcome our new corporate overlords!
Could someone with a bit more enlightenment spell out what this means for subscribers, please?
Informatus Technologicus
say it. now spell it.
because this is it.
although im a capitalist, im increasingly starting to think that big corporations need a MAJOR whack on their butts so that competition can be a possibility again.
Read radical news here
I'm VZ for work and home. My girlfriend is Alltel. Now I don't have to worry about not being in her circle!
--- rapper/producer/bachelorette party stripper
That alone should be more than sufficient to nix the deal. Anything that would upset the balance in the market this much should require more than stringent guarantees of access at current prices for the next century -- and not for the next 18 months as would be more likely proposed.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
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
Does that mean now that the horrible Alltel commercials will finally end?
What even defines a monopoly anymore?
Shouldn't there be some cap on the ratio of providence of a service or product to demand or something?
Obviously 80 million wireless subscribers is approaching a significant portion of the US population. And let's do the numbers on AT&T.
double-u tea eff question mark exclamation point.
Read my Very Short "Stories"
I hope this isn't the final nail in Sprint's coffin. I happen to be very attached to my $30/month everything unlimited SERO plan.
Nextel == iDEN phones & network, running nothing of note
Sprint == CDMA phones & network, running J2ME
Result: disaster
Verizon == CDMA phones & network, running BREW
Alltel == CDMA phones and network, running BREW
Result: probably much better
"I think an etch-a-sketch with an ethernet port would beat IE7 in web standards compliance."
You're foolish enough to think that a VZ and AT merger will benefit you as gaining the feature set of VZ + AT = both of you.
Expect more likely, both of you = - (VZ + AT).
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
We should therefore stop arguing, and accept that theirs is the superior intellect, after all, what could possibly go wrong?
A learning experience is one of those things that say, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.' - D. Adams
Welcome to turdville. Population? You. You'll be happy to learn that at least you'll have the best coverage available. Oh and hurray for taking one more giant step towards a single company owning everything.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
Just for trying this crap they should split Verizon in twain. Veri gets the even phone numbers, and Izon gets the odd ones. Ready... Set... Compete!
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.
We can say good by to those stupid commercials now.
Other then that, having a even larger company with more control over their customers so they can screw them more is all i see coming out of this.. Good thing i dont use a cell phone, or believe in them.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
and if you give up your freedom for safety/security, then you're protecting nothing.
Which is funny, since GSM providers like AT&T and T-Mobile (I have T-Mobile) are moving to 3G standards such as UMTS/HSDPA, which are CDMA-based. =)
Actually, no.
GP post referenced the FCC, who now have to approve the Sirius/XM merger. The DOJ gave the ok but it's only part of the pie. Their merger plans are at least a year and a half in the making... I wonder how long THIS Verizon/Alltel merger was on the drawing board.
More Twoson than Cupertino
There goes my uncrippled phones.
I wonder what effect this will have on the Alltel commercials: The Verizon kid is the nastiest, most obnoxious of the lot.
</humor>
www.eFax.com are spammers
I can use my cell phone on top of Halfdome cause that would be pretty nice.
Ave Molech Setting
If I could use my SIM card in it, I wouldn't care if my phone used TDMA, CDMA, GSM, BDSM, or Avian Carriers.
But after 2 years with Sprint hoping my piece of junk phone would hold out long enough for me to escape to T-Mobile without having to sign up for another piece of junk phone from Sprint because I can't just buy a used piece of junk phone (there pretty much aren't any non-piece-of-junk phones out there) and stick my SIM in it... I'm done with CDMA, thank you very much.
Alltel is CDMA.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alltel#Network_technology
From an email discussion earlier:
So in the Alltel commercials, does the Verizon tech lookalike now get to noogie "Chad," and make him drive the "Wizard" van?
It's the FCC on a huge merger. Of course it's going to be slow. I hate to say it, but thats not a surprise nor is it likely aimed at XM/Sirius. It's more likely that they just work that slow period. Even if FCC disapproves I suspect there may be an appeal process ( I don't know myself) but it would be just as lengthy.
No doubt the Alltel customers who are use to My Circle and relatively un-crippled phones compared to Verizon will not like this.
Would customers be able to get out of their contacts when they merge?
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've been a happy Alltel customer since December - glad to know I can look forward to higher prices, lower customer service, and a throttled internet connection - now likely to be run straight through NSA central. I'm thrilled.
Write back when you get sober....
Or when Limbaugh fires you....
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
If this ends those annoying Alltel commercials with the dumbass blonde "cool" guy and the dumbass pseudo geeky guys I am all for it!
The difference between fringes on both sides are difficult for even experts to detect, as they're almost the same. It's a circular, rather than directional, politic.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
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.
-
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.
Corporations shouldn't be allowed to buy other corporations. It wasn't like that in the beginning, but railroad tycoons wanted to consolidate and argued that corporations should have all the rights (but none of the responsibilities) of an individual person.
Allowing corporations to merge is against every principle the free market stands on.
That's a dictionary definition. That is NOT a US antitrust law (or anyone elses antitrust law) definition. A monopoly market exists when one firm (or a small number of firms) have the ability to raise prices above the [competitive] market level. That alone is not an antitrust violation though. You also need to have them actually do something which is detrimental to the marketplace (predatory pricing, pricing below cost, etc).
-Daniel
To appeal the FCC decision they'd have to go to the courts. Since the FCC is an administrative agency, the courts will basically look only at whether or not the FCC's decision was arbitrary/capricious. That's a pretty tough standard.
By the way, one of the main reasons XM/Sirius was likely approved was because they both lose craptons (that's the technical term) of money. If the choice is zero providers of a service, or one, we prefer taking the one. The other reason it can/has/will be approved is that there's many ways to get music in your car... FM Radio, HD Radio, CD's, iPod's/podcasts, etc. Between the two of these things, they came up with enough reason to approve it.
In the case of VZW/Alltel... well certainly there's no danger of VZW going bankrupt. Alltel is a different story. Their financial picture isn't all that pretty. But just one of them being in trouble won't necessarily be enough to approve it. And certainly there's no other way to get mobile phone service than to use a... mobile phone. But of course there's still 4 major cell carriers. I'd bet this is approved, but for different reasons than XM/Sirius.
-Daniel
And yet you will still be using a GSM phone network and have sims... Are there plans to have sims for CDMA networks such as Verizon or Sprint ?
waiting for ad.doubleclick.net
Does that mean Starbucks is a monopoly?
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.
Yaaaa, no more annoying Alltel commercials. Finally Nerds can be nerdy in peace!
Learn about Programming (C++ ASM) and Web Design and Development (PHP, CSS, Photoshop) from InfernoDevelopment.com
I haven't renewed my Verizon plan for 5 years. I sure as hell won't when the 3G iPhone arrives and this consolidation of competition makes me want to vomit.
Capitalism my f'n ass.
Where is the broad competition? I see a group of Lords running the Phone companies, once again.
This f'n country just loves to sodomize it's patrons over and over again.
Alltel should have merged with another multi-regional instead, so we could have had a third national carrier. (I would count Sprint Nextel if anyone I knew could reliably get a signal here in the 9th largest MSA.)
[Damn lameness filter!]
They say the mind is the first thing to
You cannot tell me that you don't enjoy summoning the wwwizzzzard for hours on end.
Of course, but at least I wash my hands afterward.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
Ummmm, didn't the press release say that now all Alltel customers would now be part of Verizon's IN network? I.e., now all customers on both Verizon and Alltel can call each other without using minutes or anything.
I learned something interesting today.
/line.
However, before we get to that, let me just say I think this is a good thing. I've managed several large cell accounts (500+ handsets) and I've had great experiences with Verizon - their business side is great. At least the reps I've dealt with. Conversely, the company I work for now has Alltel and I think they f*cking suck. For reference though, AT&T is the worst company I've ever deal with (500+ account). Then again, I've never dealt with Sprint. This is probably a regional thing, YMMV.
Anyway, our rep had some interesting news today. Now, Alltel services some VERY rural areas including this remote area of Montana that I live in. According to her, Alltel in Montana will never be operated as Verizon, it is impossible due to FCC regulation. After the sale is complete, Verizon will have to divest our market and any others acquired in which there was direct competition (A & B side carrier designation).... to yet another carrier. This will be a good chunk of real estate so the expectation is that it will be to another major player.
So what does that mean? Verizon is going to suck up a lot of urban areas and urban customers and rural customers are likely to get shafted. Shafted meaning they will be transferred to odd little local carriers (yes - they still exist), such as Chinook. Why? Because Sprint still hasn't built out their PCS network in lots of rural areas. AT&T's GSM still has poor coverage in many areas too compared to Verizon & Alltel's older CDMA technology. Also, rural areas are very expensive to install infrastructure in, especially if you're dealing with mountains.
My recommendation for anyone maintaining a large cell account: stop buy equipment and renewing contracts. This deal will likely take 6 months for acquisition, and then a year for assimilation. That means, get your existing contracts as close to expiration as you can so that you're not incurring costs to break your contract. Right now breaking an Alltel contract is approximately $175
----- obSig
So how do you think they're going to kill off the verizon guy in the alltel commercials?
Chewbacon
The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
I wish AT&T's data could even compete with Verizons or Sprints, currently it sucks. As for T-Mobile, well, they've been promising us a workable 3G for years and still have nothing. Better phones, better service, but crappy data and really crappy data plans as well.
In California Verizon has the best overall network. The big losers in this deal are Sprint and T-Mo. AT&T doesn't need to worry because it's got Apple on their side for 4 more years.
Are people terminally stupid when it comes to cell phone technologies?
Yes, and about economics. Wireless phone service is a natural mono/oligopoly, just like wired connectivity in phone and cable, and energy, and many other services we buy. It is a question of favorable economy of scale, prior investment, knowledge and capability. The whole "Go start your own wireless company then" argument is asinine.
Furthermore, I don't consider the customer service of either company to be below average for wireless providers. I consider both to be well above average compared to most utilities and companies with call centers, speaking from my experience.
FairTax baby!
mmm, i was making a joke... tough guy.
--- rapper/producer/bachelorette party stripper
Sure, NexTel is great in the manufacturing sector, but I have to tell you, when they opened up "Push to Talk" to the regular consumer market, they put a knife in their foot. I can't stand that lame blip every time someone Mr. Doe has to ask Mrs. Doe what type of flour to buy at the grocery store.
Agreed. I think push to talk is a stupid feature to start with, but the audible cue every time the phone makes or gets a "message" is godawful annoying.
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
So...uh...Yeah I'd rather have the fewer annoying commercials.
Blar.
...don't pay it!
That's what I did. Cellphone free for well over a year. Don't miss it. Still have broadband and land lines for communication.
Blar.
But the rich guys will always have their loop-holes, only now they have more.
Or will there be sales tax on stock purchases? Yacht and real-estate purchases? Other kinds of investments?
That website is full of bravado, low-brow trash talking and merchandise. The realm of the $50,000/year and under drone. No thanks, we need more taxes not less taxes to pay for this failure of a 'war'
Blar.
So the regular shmoe who spends most of his income on neccessities gets taxed to the hilt, but the rich can get richer at an accelerated rate because they don't pay tax on the majority of their spending: investments! There is also no tax when you sell an investment either!
Anyone who's not a Millionaire and who supports this plan is a fucking retard. It shifts the tax burden off of those who can most afford it and who have proftted the most off of the nation...to those who do all the real work.
Such crap, no wonder the front page panders the the white trash bitch-sites.
Blar.
I'm not a millionaire. Hell, I'm not even a hundred-thousandaire. I support the Fair Tax movement. Just because the "less fortunate" screw themselves with more taxes spending on their money on beer and cigarettes doesn't mean it's not fair. Besides, with their welfare checks, it's likely that the tax will be waived for them...
summoned to take over Alltel. So I guess the circle guy will now be wearing a Verizon shirt in the commercials.
Wasn't the whole point of breaking up the telecommunications monopolies specifically to STOP this kind of re-merging in the future?
Who do we have now? Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile. I'd call that a failed attempt at making sure there are no monopolies in this space.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
All but the absolute skid-row bums spend far more on food, clothes and utilities than they do on beer and smokes.
I forsee a booming business in counterfeit 'I'm poor and don't need to pay this extra sales tax' ID cards.
It's naive plan in concept, and a non-starter for actual implementation.
Blar.
Sprint Nextel's dying. It has to vacate it's Direct Connect spectrum by the 26th of this month, killing millions of users and losing a great bit of their coverage, which will effectively cripple the company.
Alltel was the bottom wrung of the five main companies. (Though the commercials were funny.) So Verizon scooped them up, making them the number one carrier with the extra customers.
AT&T is planning on acquiring US Cellular, which will only net them around 6 million extra customers...
After this month, really all that's left is AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.
Monopolies aside, if Verizon is allowed to acquire Alltel, AT&T should be allowed to acquire T-Mobile. Then we'd have two giant companies vying for power of America's network, while a bunch of itty bitty little local companies (Cricket, MetroPCS, Qwest) and a bunch of prepaid companies (Boost, Virgin Mobile, Helio) flit about like flies.
Two colossal companies. Hmm. Microsoft and Apple?
However this goes, I am interested to see what Google can bring to the table, whenever they figure out what's shakin' in their court.
There's a lot of fucked up shit on the internet. And I've downloaded it all.
Everybody, go get your brooms!