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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!!!
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
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?
Fewer choices and greater prices.
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."
Developers: We can use your help.
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.
and if you give up your freedom for safety/security, then you're protecting nothing.
Alltel is CDMA.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
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 don't think so, my Alltel Razor talks to my desktop using usb, my office mate's identical Verizon model is locked up.
I'm aging rapidly, I bought a new game and had no idea if my machine was good for it.
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.
This is true. However, it is an oligopoly in which collusion and cartels are more likely. And this means the FCC still has pull.
Verizon probably won't win the early termination fees suit if it goes to the US Supreme Court, and it knows that, so it's doing the next most predatory thing it can.
The article in the OP stated: "The companies noted that Alltel is serving 57 mostly rural markets that Verizon Wireless does not serve." In other words, Verizon is buying out the rural markets, giving those people less choice, even if -- and especially if -- the suit does go to the Supreme Court.
It's probably very interesting to note what kind of correlation there is between the states' litigation against Verizon (and its cronies) and the areas Alltel serves: like "dollars of litigation" total in rural states vs. the "dollars of litigation" in the cities that Verizon tends to serve. Very interesting indeed.