Alltel acquisition rumors heat up

Despite the fact that its fellow carriers play the fool in those sometimes-clever My Circle commercials, Alltel is in talks with at least three of its rivals to see if any are interested in picking up "the nation's largest wireless network," according to the Wall Street Journal. Alltel, with its 12 million subscribers and $22 billion market valuation, claims just one-fifth the amount of subs that either AT&T or Verizon do, but has made it niche serving customers in areas with poor coverage by the majors -- making it an attractive target for anyone looking to quickly expand their network. Since Alltel rocks the CDMA styles, it would obviously make more sense for Sprint or Verizon to take the plunge, and though Little Rock-based Alltel is also said to be chatting it up with the carrier formerly known as Cingular, the recent BellSouth deal could make such purchase a financial and regulatory burden for the new AT&T. Now bear in mind that this is not the first time we've heard such acquisition chatter -- Engadget Mobile reported that Verizon was the front runner as of a few weeks ago (a deal would help it snatch the "largest carrier" crown away from AT&T) -- so either things are heating up or its another slow news day down at the ol' Journal.

[Billy Boy @ Mar 6th 2007 10:19AM]

Oh, pleases giveth me the AT&T... Me wants an iphone... I liveth in the sticks.......Needs my connection to the outside world.....

[Del33t @ Mar 6th 2007 10:43AM]

Do you use the Internet for just porn then?

Will those that fell to win the bid cry "monopoly"?

[Sprint General @ Mar 6th 2007 11:04AM]

SPRINT SPRINT SPRINT.... I hope Sprint wins they needeth the Marketshare badly with the deal they can finally surpass Verizon.. and everyone knows how much Verizon blows
crippled Bluetooth and $40 Unlimited Data when Sprint Unlimited Data plan is $15. Sprint Sprint Sprint... The Street love mergers and acquisitions Sprints stock has been very strong ever after last week mini-crash If Sprint got Alltel the stock would take off.

Because we all know Verizon's CEO didn't want Apples iPhone and the next comming iPhone will be CDMA based since Apple loves and will show love to the 100+Million CDMA cstomers

So Sprint+Apple=CDMA iPhone FTW!

[Sergio @ Mar 6th 2007 11:23AM]

Because Apple will be so quick to give up Cingular's exclusivity to the iPhone right? And maybe Verizon didn't want the iPhone because of Apple's particular demands, you ever think of that?

And Adam:

1) T-mobile uses the same technology as Cingular (read: not the same network).
2) Cingular can't and won't acquire T-Mobile, ever. Read up on monopolies.

[zargon @ Mar 6th 2007 12:25PM]

Just because you don't like Verizon, doesn't mean it blows.

For me, it by far has the best service in the Twin Cities. The cripple phones can be an annoyance, but overall isn't really worth getting mad over. Personally, I am all about service, something that Verizon has been top noche for me.

[Adam @ Mar 6th 2007 11:05AM]

Does anyone know haow many subscribers T-Mobile has? Also, dosn't T-Mobile run on Cingular's network.

Has anyone heard of any rumors of Cingular Acguiring T-Mobile?

[Sergio @ Mar 6th 2007 11:16AM]

Not happening, buddy. Then there'd only be one major GSM carrier left and what do we call that kids? Yes, thats right, a monopoly.

[todd @ Mar 6th 2007 11:26AM]

T-Mobile's in the 25 million range. And no, they DO NOT run off suckgular's network. Same technology (both GSM) but completely different networks.

Suckgular isn't trying to buy T-Mobile. And if they did, I'd pay me early termination fee with T-Mo and run. I refuse to give Suckgular any more of my money.

[Adam @ Mar 6th 2007 11:16AM]

How many subscribers does T-Mobile have. Doesn't T-Mobile work on the same network as Cingular.

Is there any talk on Cingular acquiring T-Mobile.

[theburn16 @ Mar 6th 2007 11:20AM]

just because there would only be 1 gsm provider would not make it a monopoly...a monopoly would be if there was only 1 wireless carrier period, just because they'd be the only ones using gsm does not make it a monopoly

[Sergio @ Mar 6th 2007 11:27AM]

I think the US government would see it differently. For one thing, CDMA isn't as global a phone as GSM and customers wouldn't have a choice anymore among GSM carriers. Other issues like, no choice in pricing plans (think T-mobiles 1000 minutes for $40/month vs Cingulars 1000 minutes for much more.. the prices are estimates but last I checked they were about right) would really get customers to complain and I'm sure those in government will quickly realize what needs to be done.

[Jeff R @ Mar 6th 2007 11:38AM]

T-Mobile hit 25 Million recently. Verizon is what 65 million and i heard cingular is closing in on 67 million i think.

[KR @ Mar 6th 2007 11:24AM]

I wouldn't mind if someone buys Alltel. I've had great service with them for years down in NC. A little over 6 months ago I moved to NY, and while I still get good reception and service up here, I'm stuck using my old NC-based phone number and plan, because Alltel doesn't offer any plans up here. So the network coverage is here, but I guess I'm using another company's towers.

I also kind of want an iPhone, and that would be one more reason for me to go that route...

[theburn16 @ Mar 6th 2007 11:36AM]

it doesn't matter, it's all about competition...it's not like verizon and sprint don't have the option to run on gsm. as far as pricing goes no matter what you say at&t is competing with verizon and sprint even though they are cdma...therefore it would not be a monopoly

[Adam @ Mar 6th 2007 11:34AM]

Actually that does not make it a monoploy.

Just because there is only one GSM carrier, it doesn't matter. The way it works is if there was only one cellular carrier.

A monopoly isn't one band (GSM or CDMA) it is one carrier.

Sorry doesn't work that way, buddy.

[IOTA @ Mar 6th 2007 1:07PM]

These companies are licensed specific frequencies to use for their networks. In is not just a matter of anti-trust, but also FCC regulations (see Sirius/ XM merger issues).

Just because you like your carrier doesn't mean they're the most likely acquirer. I think many of you are just searching for reasons to justify your sick allegiance with

BTW, t-moblie has 101M subscribers worldwide. There have been rumors of comcast acquiring their US operations, though the chances look slim.

My bet is on Sprint, whose 3G network is superior to Verizon. I have cingular, but am no longer under contract.

[Sergio @ Mar 6th 2007 11:46AM]

What competition exists when you want to travel globally, either for business or pleasure? In a purely theoretical case, you have 1 GSM carrier to choose from and that would be a Cingular+T-Mobile merger of some sort. But what if you, as a customer, don't like this fused company? You either take it or leave it because we all know CDMA isn't as widely supported, on a global scale, as GSM. So in that particular market, for the consumer that wants to travel internationally with his phone, there exists no such competition except for the mighty Cingumobile.

[theburn16 @ Mar 6th 2007 11:40AM]

at&t is closing in on 63, verizon is at 59...not sure about t-mobile, they're as close to a non-competitor in my market as you could possibly be. they have 0 net worth in the south because you only get signal right along interstates

[Sprint General @ Mar 6th 2007 11:49AM]

I belive its in AT&T (Cingular's)formely Best self intrest to keep T-Mobile (Voicestream) around.

As for Verizon passing on the iPhone even though they had first dibs, suggest Apple wanted to go CDMA from the start. GSM Apple wanted to avoid at first now your gonna have hacker unlocking iPhones and taking it to France and Europe dirty Eurpoeans

Cingular AT&T is getting the first iPhone but that doesn't mean they have some insane exclusivity deal where they will forever be the only carriers of iPhones theres a CDMA iPhone in the works probably shown next year.

Also Verizon has a strong partnership with Microsoft (Xbox 360 in particular thats a demographic they want) and they are all set to Carry the Zune Phone of all things yes ist real and yes its comming to Verizon.

This Alletl deal since its CDMA is either Sprint vying for Marketshare to surpass Verizon and give Apple a feather in its PR cap saying the LArgest CDAM carrier is with us.and now carriers the iPhone either way SPRINT is getting the newer comming iPhone CDMA based

or a defensive move by Verizon to sweaten the Zune Phone deal with Microsoft

[Sergio @ Mar 6th 2007 1:21PM]

You're in serious need of a spellchecker.

[mroach @ Mar 6th 2007 12:18PM]

I'd bet that Alltel is talking to AT&T about buying its GSM network. Though they don't sell service on it, Alltel operates a huge GSM network in the midwest and offer roaming on it to the likes of T-Mobile and AT&T. If you compare their map with AT&T's, it would be a very nice addition to their network

Alltel 850/1900:
http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?cc=us&net=wh

AT&T 850:
http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?cc=us&net=b2
AT&T 1900:
http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?cc=us&net=be

[Ben @ Mar 6th 2007 12:31PM]

sprint-nextel-altel? Not so much. And does anyone remember the first AT&T-Cingular merger, with all the TDMA confusion? Why would they want to absorb a CDMA carier? For some GSM roaming?

My money is on Verizon. They would be bigger than AT&T by like what, 10-11 million subscribers, and could sell the GSM roaming to who ever wants it.

Then Apple will have "one more thing" like, "Oh, we have a cPhone, too, and the cPhone is a world exclusive to Verizon. It is just like a iPhone, but it is CDMA and has EVDO. One more thing: TASTY COLORS!" or something along those lines.

[The Jeremy @ Mar 6th 2007 1:01PM]

As a T-Mobile USA subscriber, I really wish Vodafone would pony up and buy out T-Mobile USA. With the sheer size of Vodafone (GSM throughout the rest of the world), the economies-of-scale it would bring would be more than enough to be extremely profitable all while hammering the frack out of AT&T price-wise. As we should remember, Vodafone was an early bidder on the independent AT&T Wireless before SBC (now AT&T) stepped up with its monopoly cash and bought the company and merged it with their own Cingular Wireless. Unfortunately, the Vodafone shareholders semi-rebelled on the acquisition war.

The other problem is Vodafone is the other partner owner in Verizon Wireless. Why they still continue to own this - with the exception of the profits - boggles my mind because they surely can't bring economies-of-scale into play with Verizon's CDMA network, plus Vodafone does not profit from the use of Verizon's brand. Perhaps Vodafone could buy up Alltell, merge it with Verizon Wireless, and eek out an agreement with Verizon proper to early terminate their partnership so Vodafone could IPO their shares in Verizon Wireless and use the monies to buy up T-Mobile USA.

Yeah, I know...wishful thinking.

[Jesse Eastman @ Mar 6th 2007 4:38PM]

25 comments so far and yours makes the most sense, you atleast know what you're talking about. I guess personally I'd like see Sprint grab em. Alrighty then that's all I have to say.

[Frankenstein Black @ Mar 6th 2007 3:22PM]

T-mobile AG Germany (T-Mobile US parent company) aint selling. T-Mobile US is the fastest growing and one of their most profitable units...

[dcny @ Mar 6th 2007 1:15PM]

What the hell is alltel never heard of the them, where do they serve. do they got them in dc va md wva area

[Scott @ Mar 6th 2007 11:43PM]

http://www.alltel.com/corporate/media/coverage.html

They don't cover that area, but a lot of the rest of the US.

[drewbyh @ Mar 6th 2007 1:26PM]

It would be very interesting if ATT(Cingular) picked up Alltel. In the South, Verizon rents a great deal of Alltel CDMA towers. If ATT were to grab Alltel, Verizon would be screwed. In the South anyways.

[Fluff @ Mar 6th 2007 1:28PM]

I was talking to a Verizon employee in Lincoln, Nebraska this weekend who told me they had been told that Verizon was looking into Alltel. They are opening a new call center in the area, and have just activated 4 additional towers. The employee told me this was in preparation for when they took over Alltel. He said the merger would hopefully be approved/completed by the end of this year, with an announcement during second quarter. Now, I don't know if he was just trying to sound impressive, but after reading this, who knows.

[Frankenstein Black @ Mar 6th 2007 3:33PM]

Actually Alltel is a logical fit for Verizon. Gives them deeper inroads into CDMA coverage in the south and the ability to appease Vodafone with more “wholly owned” (if the deal passes), GSM coverage in the US. Nothing ticks of Vodafone worse than having to use competitors GSM networks (T-Mobile, AT&T) when their subscribers come state side (that’s fancy talk for, to the US ;^). Its a 2 Birds, 1 stone deal, Yes?

[wildklymr @ Mar 18th 2007 6:52AM]

Well figuring Alltel bought up midwest wireless in october (midwest wireless was a pure GSM carrier), I think if Verizon did buy up Alltel, they would auction off the GSM part of the network that alltel is currently using only for legasy users and roaming agreements with national GSM carriers

[Michael @ Mar 20th 2007 6:27PM]

I carry Alltel,Sprint T Mobile and Cricket. If Verizon were to buy out Alltel would that grandfather me in since I already have Alltel or would that be Verizons choice