And Then There Were Three…

by Robb Dunewood on June 6, 2008 · 9 comments

Well, it looks like the nation is about to be down to 3 major wireless carriers. Verizon and Alltel have made it official that Verizon will acquire Alltel for $28.1 billion. Verizon will pay about $5.9 and inherit about $22.2 billion in debt.

When all is said and done, I just hope that Verizon keeps the wizard that we see in the Alltel commercials.

[Source]

BlackBerry


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  • Switching To AT&T

    So, will my Alltel BlackBerry 8830 that isn’t locked down soon be too unstable to run on Verizon?

  • bluehorseshoe

    I believe there’s 4 major carriers left. Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile.

  • http://www.rimarkable.com Robb Dunewood

    Yeah, I guess you still got to count Sprint since they are technically the third largest.

  • argonnj

    As Sprint found out, acquiring a competitors customers doesn’t assure that they will stay customers. Once Alltel’s customers learn that they will be losing mycircle and other Alltel perks, they will be leaving overpriced Verizon in droves. Enjoy #1 for the brief moment it lasts.

  • bluehorseshoe

    Gotta say, if it wasn’t for the iPhone, Verizon would probably be #1 without the purchase. And SBC Comm. and AT&T merged not too long ago to put them in first, barely holding on to that title. As much as I dislike VZW’s lockdown on some app’s, I prefer their network. Different areas work better for others. Oddly enough, I reside in AT&T headquarter country and their service is awful. You’d think they’d at least cover their corporate area well. Just one of those debates that can go on forever… :)

  • JHP2

    Argonnj,

    Not sure where Alltel customers will go. If they live in an Alltel coverage area, they are used to very strong voice coverage. I would hate to see Alltel’s top-nothc customer service go away though. My Circle may not be important if you use a lot of minutes. You can just get an unlimited plan from VZW However, it is very nice when you have a lower minute plan. I suspect, based upon my experience at Sprint during the Nextel “merger” that some mixture of the plans will result.

  • http://Shadowden@yahoo.com Johnnyheff

    @ argonnj

    I might agree except that vzw has the lowest churn rate in the industry. Must say something for their service, no?

  • Thought

    Smart move by VZW. They get to be #1 again in the US market and get Alltel for a bargain price.

    Then when VZW transitions over to LTE, a GSM based 4G standard, the argument for going to ATT for the GSM phones will not pan out.

    I think at some point ATT almost has to make a play for TMo in order to try to leapfrog over VZW again.

  • Pingback: Verizon Completes Alltel Purchase… Now Nations #1 Wireless Carrier

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