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Verizon Wireless To Buy Alltel For $28B

Posted by timothy on from the all-your-base-stations-that-is dept.

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.'"

7 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. Obligatory by Skeet112 · · Score: 5, Funny

    1. Nails
    2. Hammer
    3. Coffin
    4. Profit!!!

    1. Re:Obligatory by mapsjanhere · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yes, I'm one of the Alltel customers, I found out when I got a call from an unknown number, asking me
      "Can you here me now?"

      --
      I'm aging rapidly, I bought a new game and had no idea if my machine was good for it.
    2. Re:Obligatory by contrapunctus · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.

  2. Re:Consumers? by robo_mojo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Fewer choices and greater prices.

  3. Re:yeah.. but.. by Constantine+XVI · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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."
  4. Re:Great...Ordering of Priorities by DigDuality · · Score: 5, Insightful

    and if you give up your freedom for safety/security, then you're protecting nothing.

  5. Customer backlash? by jyunderwood · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?