Verizon Completes Alltel Purchase… Now Nations #1 Wireless Carrier

by Robb Dunewood on January 10, 2009 · 14 comments

We first mentioned this back in June of last year and just a bit over six months later, the Verizon acquisition of Alltel, which makes Verizon the Nation’s largest wireless carrier, is now complete.

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  • Thought

    There is an advantage to a carrier being able to advertise themselves as the largest carrier with the most subscribers.

    There are quite a few people who, when it comes time for them to buy a cell phone, will choose a carrier simply by asking which one is the largest.

  • joell

    att&t bought cingular years ago.
    now verizon buys alltel .
    verizon + att&t = monopolies
    my phone service is with verizon. these mega conglomerates are already too big & powerful.
    where the hell are the government regulators?

  • joell

    joell: the govt regulators have been asleep at the wheel for the last 8 years…that’s a big reason why we’re in the economic mess we’re in…Bush’s fantastic trickle down economics has only given us misery.

    Thank goodness we’re trading in our current dud of a President for one a quantum leap forward…and one that even knows how to use a Blackberry!

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  • RE: Joell

    I agree, the regulators were asleep during Bush jr’s tenure, but the passage of the Telecommunications Act, which made possible these monopolies occurred during the Clinton era.

    By the way, the “economic mess” you refer to was also made possible by Clinton’s deregulation of the banking industry.

    I don’t believe Obama opposed these mergers; and I would be very surprised if Verizon & ATT&T don’t buy more carriers during his tenure.

    And their power over companies like RIM only increases.

    The differencies between Clinton., Bush Jr & Obama are minimal.

  • http://www.wwe.com/superstars/wwealumni/therock/ The Rock

    As consumers not sure that this purchase calls for the pom-poms and marhing band to come out. It’s not like verizon buying alltel and becoming bigger is a plus for consumers.

    Verizon’s Open Development Initiative? So Far It’s A Joke
    http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Verizons-Open-Development-Initiative-So-Far-Its-A-Joke-100102

    verizon’s upgrade to LTE is a positive for consumers, verizon having access to all of Alltel’s GSM footprint is a positive for consumer IF verizon does the right thing. However one shouldn’t need to be reminded biggest is not better when it comes to the verizon walled garden.

  • http://www.wwe.com/superstars/wwealumni/therock/ The Rock

    “And their power over companies like RIM only increases.”

    Sad but true. But then again RIM and the other manufactures can certainly do their part to keep the service providers from screwing up their hardware and products.

  • Thought

    Verizon will never give anything away to consumers. I agree that their open dev initiative is a joke; I always thought it would be.

    As Prof Tim Wu articulates, we need wireless net neutrality. We need the equivalent of the FCC Carterfone ruling for wireless, whereby devices and service are effectively decoupled.

    Keep in mind that at one point you could only use ATT landline phones on their landline service. Carterfone broke that monopoly open. After that, not only did we have better competition and selection among landline phones, but you had other unexpected developments that would never have happened if ATT had remained the gatekeeper for the devices attached to their network, namely the fax machine and more importantly, the modem, which of course was key to the spread of the internet.

  • Mel

    I don’t think that you are going to see devices decoupled from the carriers until consumers stop buying devices that are subsidized by the carriers.

  • Lidia

    I just came back from South Africa right before the holidays where I had spent pretty much all of Q3 and Q4 there working on a project. There you can get pretty much any GSM phone that you want, including ones that aren’t available here in the U.S. and they are unlocked. All I had to do when I came back to the States was pop in my AT&T Sim card into the Nokia that I bought when I was there.

    The difference, as Mel pointed out, was that I paid over $600 for a device that would have probably only cost $200 if it were subsizided by AT&T.

  • Thought

    Lydia: you are correct…the phone subsidies offered by carriers in the US are probably the biggest barrier to real progress, as they are the main carrot offered by the industry to keep people in the current system.

    However, there are huge costs associated with this practice, which most consumers overlook. Let’s face it: consumers eventually pay for those subsidies in the form of higher monthly service fees. The carriers are not giving anything away.

    In essence, it’s a buy now and pay later plan. But all of those consumers out there who are out of contract using their old phones…guess what? They’re still paying for subsidies they are not using. There’s no discount for keeping your current phone for a longer period of time. The same goes for those who buy unlocked phones to use on US carriers.

    But here’s the real rub. This is a form of installment purchasing, complete with financing costs. However, unlike other financing plans, there’s no required disclosure on the financing costs. Do you think it really takes a carrier 2 years to recoup their subsidy on a phone?

    I think if we the consumers knew the true cost of the financing of their subsidies it would shock everyone.

  • new user

    We need more competition to have better pricing for the consumer. If you didn’t notice, no matter how good the deal, how cheap the minutes are, we are paying more on my cell phone bills every year. Those so call features are already built-in. Why we are paying for them? It is because they can charge whatever they like and we still pay. There is no alternative. Isn’t it the more people use/have it, the cheaper it becomes? Not too likely if there is only a few companies controlling the market.

  • Thought

    Given the fact that phone price subsidies are paid for with higher monthly service fees, it would be fair if a carrier gave a discount on monthly service if one did not take the subsidy or were out of contract.

    Of course they will never do this. But just like carriers offer 2 different prices on the phone…one w/ contract, one w/out contract, they should do the same for the service.

    Then the consumers could at least get a feel for what those subsidies really cost them.

  • response to Joel

    Joell, When you open your mouth you should speak of the topic at hand rather than rambling about how smart osama is because he can use a BlackBerry. My 8 year old can use a BlackBerry so what’s so special? To say the “regulators” have been asleep for EIGHT years??? Apparently BILL CLINTON was before your time? COME ON! And if you will do your research, the regulators did in fact cause Verizon to NOT purchase some Alltel areas because there is no other service available there at present beside Alltel and Verizon. Thus they are technically not monopolizing. If you don’t like them, go somewhere else. There are creative ways to end your contract without having out of pocket expense.

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