Verizon Wireless To Buy Alltel For $28B 207
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.'"
Re:Obligatory (Score:3, Informative)
I've always had Sprint as my cell provider since I got my first phone about 10 years ago. I've been happy with their service, phone plans, and coverage.
I keep hearing nothing but horror stories about other carriers.....
Re:Will Verizon convert Alltel to CDMA? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Consumers? (Score:4, Informative)
Some Insight: rural areas and future access (Score:3, Informative)
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