AT&T to scoop up divested Verizon Wireless assets?
As part of the Alltel merger, Verizon Wireless was required to divest nearly $3 billion in wireless assets as shown in the dark blue and red areas in the map above. According to the Wall Street Journal, AT&T is rumored to be one of three interested parties seeking to scoop up these soon-to-be-available markets. Other potential buyers include Providence Equity Partners LLC and a joint venture that includes the private-equity firms of Carlyle Group CYL.UL and Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts & Co. Because of its strong financial position, AT&T could easily out bid these other investment groups and walk away with the lion’s share of these markets. Regulatory approval may stand in the way of AT&T’s rumored plans as the purchase of the divestitures must be approved by the DOJ. It is unclear whether the DOJ would approve such an acquisition by an already large wireless carrier such as AT&T. As of the writing of this post, both AT&T and Verizon Wireless have declined to comment on the rumors. Until these rumors are debunked, the question remains whether customers in these divested markets would be better served by a larger and more experienced wireless carrier like AT&T or a smaller firm such as one of the aforementioned.
Is it me or does it make zero sense that the DOJ would allow ATT to scoop these up if it just made the other largest carrier give them up. Makes no sense.
Wouldn’t it make more sense for T-Mobile to pick up these assets?? AT&T doesn’t need more footprint–it needs a more consistent and stronger one!
I wish they would just expand their 3G!
Whatever they do … Keep Carlyle’s grip off of the public airwaves!
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Carlyle_Group
Actually, T-Mobile will probably not be interested in this. They’re saving their money to wait till Sprint declares bankruptcy and then they’ll buy out Sprint and iPCS. T-Mobile isn’t spending a lot of money putting up towers because they want to overtake a CDMA network eventually. Think about it, if you have ONE carrier that offers GSM and CDMA in the same store, that’s the ultimate wireless carrier, especially for business/ world travelers to go all over the world.
Why in the heck would you want to invest in a CDMA network when LTE is taking over it and its successor??
Besides, offering that dual-technology bullcrap is what got Sprint Nextel in the hole in the first place.
Stay anonymous anonymousTSR. That way you can keep making irrational statements like that.
anonymousTSR had to make the dumbest comment of the day
If this was tmobile plan, Then why did the commit to lte. Runing a cdma/gsm/umts network is not profitable there not sprint. Do you understand how cell phones work ? Let me let you in on something your stupid.
I think that’s what anonymous wants to happen, t mo has a good customer rep, not so much w/data and calling while Sprint has a bad customer rep with a stellar network so the thought may be to combine the two for the greater good. Not gonna happen after the two network mess w/Sprint and Nextel. Check back in later today, kanebb, and there’ll be plenty more not so bright comments
The north Idaho GSM would be a great fit for ATT
Yay AT&T! AT&T can do no wrong and we all love you! You are the Obama of cell phone carriers!
I think it all depends on the frequency that is being offered. If AT&T can get their hands on 850mhz frequency in areas that they don’t have it I think they will jump on it. Also, I would think they would want additional space in larger markets that they might be a little tight on bandwidth. Obviously if they don’t have any coverage in an area they will probably be able to get it. It is the overlap that they are going to have to fight for. They may have to give up some other, less valuable frequencies to get the better ones. Just my two cents.
Haha! Verizon can burn in hell along with their NASTY LOGO!
Funny that Obama uses Verizon for his BlackBerry Service, not at&t.
What does it matter weather or not AT&T buys up, they are all cheating their clients. According to consumer action 2009 cell phone contracts with company’s such as Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile are becoming more and more expensive and there is nothing we can do about it. If you don’t have an expensive unlimited cell phone plan you may end up paying overage fees of up to 45 cents per minute. All the contract company’s just decided to up there text messages to more than 20 cents per message, we paid 10 cents in 2005 and this rise is unjustified in relation to inflation or their costs of delivering the message. So if you don’t like the new charges you can terminate the contract early but only if you are prepared to pay between $150-$200 in termination fees and that is only available for some contracts in their second year. The other very scary thing about contract phones is that after your contract time is up they just renew the contract without notifying you so if you don’t pay attention and cancel the contract in writing and with a notice period you’ll find yourself roped into another two years of exorbitant bills. I also discovered that these contract companies have been cheating immigrants with international calling cards.
So what can we do about it?
I suggest that if you have a cell phone contract, you should find out when it expires and wright a letter within the 30 day notice period terminating the contract. Then go out and get a prepaid wireless contract that will cost you a fraction of the price. I’ve bought a Tracfone and I’m saving money every month, I hear that Net 10 is also a good option.
@Carol please read your terms and conditions and you’ll see wireless providers dont extend a contract w/o first you buying a new 2yr pricing phone , or in the case of tmobile, add a line of service. After the contract experies you always have the option of going month to month with your plan. Sprint/att/verizon have operated like that for over two yrs. If your wireless needs don’t bend toward smartphones then by all means enjoy tracphone, but when you sign a contract so does the carrier. You’d be surprised just how many loopholes there are: See the BGR article on the sprint “regulatory cost recovery” price hike and you’ll get my point
You’re ridiculous. The only thing rational about what you said was carriers increasing the cost of text messaging, but honestly, is it that surprising. If something is becoming more popular, from a business stand point wouldn’t you charge more. It’s basic supply and demand. If the demand increases, the price is going to go up.
We need AT&T here in Montana. I really hope they buy, and that it isn’t blocked. Our only national provider is Verizon. We have a crappy local GSM provider with horrible prices. AT&T would be good for us.
T-Mobile would have to covert all of those towers to GSM.. T-mobile Derives from Duetch Tele based out of Germany.
It would be a great move for any GSM market to take over Alltel divested markets. Alltels network is already 83% GSM due to roaming agreements. (AT&T can get service while in MT, WY, SD, & ND.) Right now Verizon is largest wireless company on a CDMA network but they don’t give you too many options for service over seas. They use to have a blackberry world edition which lets you use a sim to get service over seas. GSM service already allows you to get service over seas. Our GSM service provider in MT is a joke. They have poor service due to having less than 20 towers and they don’t have a roaming agreements with Verizon or Alltel.
The way I see it is AT&T will hit the DOJ road block this time, one of the private groups will take it and convert it all to GSM, build it out some then once the economy is doing better they will unload it the AT&T for a butt load of profit.
and to the person who said who would want CDMA….they are not buying the CDMA equipment, they are buying the spectrum and then put what ever the hell they want on it LTE or GSM
CDMA is going LTE
GSM is going LTE
soon it will be like it was in the old days
A side…B side
nothing else.
I have had AT&T for about 6 years. I am now married and live in an area close to where I used to live and cannot use my cell phone at home. It drives me crazy. I want to know why they can get signal all over the country but, they cannot give complete coverage in KY.
I love them, I don’t want to change carriers, but, Verizon and T Mobil come in at home. Why can they, but one of the biggest names cannot???? I was told that Verizon and ATT might be merging (rumors!). I would love it if it did happen. Maybe then I could get rid of my land line phone and only have one pricey bell per month!
I’m hoping AT&T DOES pick up the Alltel assets in ND and SD. I have gone back and forth between Alltel and AT&T over the years because I have moved around the midwest a bit. I recently switched back to AT&T for a number of reasons and they have horrible service in ND and SD where Alltel has great service. If AT&T picks up the Alltel assets in ND and SD, I’ll have continuous service where I used to have none. I don’t see why the DOJ would block AT&T here because they currently don’t have service in a lot of these markets anyway…
so true…