DoJ approves Verizon Wireless-Alltel, requires divestitures in 22 states
October 30 2008 - 4:59 pm ET | Jeffrey Silva | RCR Wireless News
The Department of Justice approved Verizon Wireless’ $28 billion purchase of Alltel Communications L.L.C., subject to required divestitures of wireless assets in 100 markets encompassing 22 states.
“The divestitures required are necessary to protect wireless customers and are among the most extensive required by the department in a wireless case,” said Thomas Barnett, assistant attorney general in charge of the antitrust division.
DoJ said the divestitures, included in a settlement requiring court approval, cover the entire states of North Dakota and South Dakota, major portions of Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Montana, South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming, and sections of Alabama, Arizona, California, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia.
The Federal Communications Commission is set to vote on the Verizon Wireless-Alltel deal Nov. 4. The agency is expected to call for wireless divestitures mirroring those announced by the Justice Department. Small, rural and regional wireless carriers have lobbied the FCC to attach roaming conditions to any approval of the Verizon Wireless-Alltel tie-up. If the FCC signs off on the merger, Verizon Wireless would jump ahead of AT&T Mobility as the nation’s largest mobile-phone operator.
Verizon Wireless currently serves more than 70 million subscribers in 49 states. The company had revenues of approximately $43 billion in 2007.
November 6, 2008 04:15 pm
Well I have to say as an Alltel employee of 4 years I am concerned about the approval and my job. There are numerous rumors floating around now that the merger is complete, one being that Verizon only plans to keep a small percentage of Alltel's employees which is horribly unfair. It is understandable than in the divested markets it is something that cannot be avoided but in markets not targeted for divesture why would they not want to keep those employees? Clearly they do not have enough staff to fill all of these stores why would they hire outside of Alltel and have these people with years of loyal service and families loose their jobs? Yet we are suppose to believe that this merger is a wonderful thing? Maybe for the consumer at some level but certainly not the employee. You would think the Alltel employee would be a great asset to Verizon especially those with years of tenure with the company. They are obviously loyal, hard working people with proven capabilities. Alltel does not just hire anyone. Their screening process is extensive and they demand excellence in performance. If you have a job with Alltel it is because you have proven yourself to stand out from the rest how is that a bad thing!!! You would think they would welcome the trained professionals at Alltel into the Verizon family. If this rumor is true what does this say about Verizon? Alltel employees are also paying customers and there are lots of us with cellular service and data plans both on single and family level. If they don't care about us they don't care about our business either. Maybe it wont be long before AT&T is back on top again.
November 5, 2008 06:29 am
I assume the merger will be a smooth one as both companies employee CDMA technology. Customer should not be required to get new equipment. Verizon Wireless will lose about 2 million customers off the top with the markets they are required to divest. I figure another million or more who will take the opportunity to move to another carrier. Besides that again a painless merger for customers on either side. In a seperate merger earlier this year Verizon Wireless acquired Alltel customers in Fairfield, Ct so on one level it has proved to be training for this bigger merger. What I worry about are Alltel employees.
November 4, 2008 06:07 am
My one question is, what is going to happen to the Alltel customers once the merge happens? Are they going to be able top continue with their sam plan? Are they going to have to get new equipment? Has anyone thought about them?
November 3, 2008 07:56 pm
I'm not sure if your post was correct in terms of rate plans. VZW and Cingular offer almost identical rate plans with three exceptions. #1 If I wanted an unlimited data plan with unlimited txting and a certain amount of minutes Cingular tends to be about $5 cheaper. Yes Cingular has 7 pm minutes at $16.99 additional monthly cost. And thus precious rollover minutes are on a 12 month rolling period. If you are late once your rollover minutes are gone. Again I'm not saying one is better then the other I am saying there is almost no difference between the two companies. You can not shoot one company done and praise another one based on pricing.
November 3, 2008 09:34 am
VZW is for the younger generation. They have all these cool phones which is geared towards what kids are doing to sell products. What about the travelling business man who does a lot of international travelling. They have only 3 phones that can be used. With AT&T there is no need to rent a phone. No VZW coverage, no way to use your phone. Charges for roaming will apply and they can be expensive. Their global coverage is very limited when travelling out of the country. AT&T has them beat as far as coverage. They are not the most reliable network as far as coverage. Their prices on calling plans are too high. Rollover minutes are great, what I do not use I can have for the next month. Should I go over my regular min you use your rollover minutes. No need to spend an extra $20 for minutes. They also have 7p nights and weekends instead of 9p which is excellent considering everyone is not on my AT&T network. I save on my monthly min and nobody has to worry about overages. Lets face it VZW is all about making profit and not looking out for its customers. The economy is bad and everyone cannot afford their prices so a lot of people will be leaving unless they are going to pay for ETFs for customers to stay. People are jumping ship and leaving VZW.
November 3, 2008 09:33 am
To PamiFirst of all, it's fairly obvious that you aren't telling the whole story. Verizon never bought out VoiceStream. VoiceStream (which was originally OmniPoint) became a part of T-Mobile USA. Verizon came about after the merger of GTE, PrimeCo and AirTouch Cellular (I was an AirTouch Authorized agent at the time). Second of all, I've NEVER had a problem after any merger about getting a customer a new number, there was a small fee, but that was about it. The only time that I've ever had to move someone into new equipment was when I was selling Cingular and had customers that still had the Old AT&T TDMA phones that were on a network that was being phased out.
November 2, 2008 06:19 am
I am a Sales rep of verizon and used to sell spring, cingular, and at&t. I can say by far that Verizon has the best service and the best customer service. When I worked for Sprint I hated not being able to give customers many options to help them. Verizon bends over backwards to try and help customers, but there are cases that are just too out of reach to help with. There are thigns that we may be more expensive on, but comparing a lot of the plans between At&t and Verizon, pricing is pretty much the same. I would pay a little extra per month for a service provider that takes care of its customers and can get services all over. This merger is definately a win for verizon and alltel customers and anyone else with cell phone service that wants to switch. I would like to see some plans such as my circle come over because I understand people look at cost as a major decision maker, but I can fully stand behind the network.
November 1, 2008 05:01 pm
pami,maybe you should teach your children how to use the phone. your phone number does not only contain the numbers 911 so dont try and put the blame on verizon. also they arent going to make you extend your contract, and charge you a higher price for changing your number. who are you trying to kid? you talking about the economy...dont start. go to verizon and have them go over your account, so you know exactly what youre talking about, and so they teach you how to use the phone. then you can teach your kids how to call you. having 911 in the middle of your number is a poor excuse to talk bad about verizon.
November 1, 2008 04:04 pm
cant wait for the merger. i've been with verizon for quite some time now. customer service is awesome. on two different occasions i had to exchange 2 of my cells under the warranty. went to the store and the tech wouldnt allow the exchange because "he thought the phone was alright", called customer service...complained about the tech, and the manager on duty. customer service sent out a new phone that day, received it the next afternoon, apologized to me, come to find out...they credited my account for a months service, and the tech and manager...lets just say they dont work there anymore. living here in hawaii...coverage is a big issue here because we dont have many cell towers like the mainland. i must say the coverage is way better. i've had sprint, nextel, at&t, and t-mobile so i can say that verizon is by far the best. as for at&t...the only reason why they're the largest cell phone provider is 2 things: ROLLOVER MINUTES, and the IPHONE. that's it. sprint...well they don't have much besides the $99.99 unlimited talk, message, and data plan. they have the worst customer service.nextel...well their phones really sucked when i was with them. poor battery life. also the same as above with the customer service.t-mobile...they got cheap plans compared to the rest. they got cool phones, but the coverage could be better. the only thing about them is that they gotta train their employees on the products and services they have. THEY MUST HIRE PEOPLE THAT KNOWS AND UNDERSTANDS HOW THE CELL PHONE AND NETWORKS OPERATE. THIS GOES FOR ALL PROVIDERS...INCLUDING VERIZON. right now, t-mobile cant afford poor customer service.with all that said, if verizon had the IPHONE and ROLLOVER MINUTES, at&t wouldn't stand a chance!!hopefully when the merger gets approved...comes cheaper plans, and more features.
November 1, 2008 06:00 am
Verizon didn't buy Voicestream as someone said, just FYI. Voicestream became T-Mobile after the acquisition by the Deutsche Telekom.Anyway, I don't mind the merger, as an AT&T customer of going on TEN years! Hopefully it will spur more competition on a NATIONAL level I hope, since Alltel was a regional carrier, albeit the biggest one.Looks like every rural carrier is bought up. AT&T bought two more carriers this year...as far as I know. Maybe more...Blackberry Bold! Only on AT&T! November 4th. :) Love my AT&T service. Always have.