Department of Justice approves Verizon's Alltel acquisition, requires more concessions

The suits at the Department of Justice just green-lighted Verizon's planned acquisition of regional rival Alltel, moving the two CDMA giants closer to a marriage that would easily eclipse AT&T to become the largest wireless carrier in North America. There's a catch, though, and a rather hefty one at that -- Verizon has to agree to divest itself of some 100 local markets in 22 states to keep the competitive landscape in action; given that they've already indicated a willingness to shed some markets to seal the deal, it probably won't be an issue. The next hurdle for Vertel (or Allzon, depending on how you roll) will come on November 4, when the FCC votes on whether it'll bless the deal. As for the rumors that Verizon is now eligible to get Alltel at a 50 percent discount with a $1 billion mail-in rebate if it agrees to a two-year contract, we're not hearing any comment from either side.

[AJR @ Oct 30th 2008 7:07PM]

Will I be able to keep my My Circle Plan as it is?

[WixosTrix @ Oct 30th 2008 7:30PM]

I feel like you'll probably get it until they force you to switch to a Verizon plan. I think the real reason Alltel had the my circle was because there free mobile to mobile was pretty limited compared to the amount of subscribers Version and AT&T have. This is why you don't see neither of them jumping on to that idea.

[Tyson Williams @ Oct 30th 2008 7:09PM]

Ill have to re-new my contract with alltel before this happens, I dont want to pay for verizon rates.

[GaryZ @ Oct 30th 2008 7:11PM]

New Alltel ad will feature Alltel and VZW reps bullying others, with VZW army of engineers holding baseball bats in the background

[Kamokazi @ Oct 30th 2008 7:16PM]

"As for the rumors that Verizon is now eligible to get Alltel at a 50 percent discount with a $1 billion mail-in rebate if it agrees to a two-year contract, we're not hearing any comment from either side."

One of the wittiest comments by an Egadget editor in a while.

[skunkman62 @ Oct 30th 2008 9:49PM]

really? i thought it was a major fail.

[NoAndThen @ Oct 30th 2008 11:34PM]

@Kamokazi: Agreed!

The early termination fee on this contract would be epic...

[likeabite @ Oct 31st 2008 1:49PM]

Hahahaa...good one

[TEG @ Oct 30th 2008 7:22PM]

Is this Verizon buying Alltel or Verizon Wireless (A joint venture between Verizon and Vodaphone) buying Alltel? Little nuggets of information like this need clarifying.

Also, they should end the Alltel commercials with either the Verizon Wireless guy killing Chad, them getting married, or both being killed by the "Can you hear me now?" jackass.

[StalematE @ Oct 30th 2008 7:23PM]

Chad's still a dingdong though.

[crow610 @ Oct 30th 2008 7:28PM]

YOU'RE A DINGDONG!

[olsonick @ Oct 30th 2008 7:29PM]

mmmmmm concessions...

[grull27 @ Oct 30th 2008 7:30PM]

So is Alltel going to take that Verizon guy out of there commercials now?

[a ham sandwich @ Oct 30th 2008 7:37PM]

obama '08!

[James @ Oct 30th 2008 11:49PM]

Saying fuck obama is like saying fuck america.

[Benson @ Oct 31st 2008 1:48AM]

Saying "fuck your sandwich", on the other hand, is quite unlike any other utterance I've ever heard.

[WixosTrix @ Oct 30th 2008 7:44PM]

i'd find this kind of a blow to my ad campaign if i were alltel, now whose the jackasses

[takemetoyourtoaster @ Oct 30th 2008 7:45PM]

what a cute couple

[brandoshido @ Oct 30th 2008 7:50PM]

hopefully it's like Blade. Both of the companies strengths, none of their weaknesses.

[Zdm321 @ Oct 30th 2008 7:58PM]

Well at least this merger was better then the Sprint-Nextel merger...

[bullet089 @ Oct 30th 2008 7:55PM]

Er, will be...

[Valicore @ Oct 30th 2008 10:18PM]

That'a not hard dude... I can't imagine more money being wasted or more mistakes being made than were made between Sprint - Nextel. To clarify, I actually can imagine worse mistakes being made, but not in reality.

[you @ Oct 30th 2008 7:56PM]

that's what you get for sharing the lemonade chad!

[jdog @ Oct 30th 2008 8:57PM]

nice hair chad. dingdong.

[KeegdnaB @ Oct 30th 2008 8:11PM]

Man, someone at the justice department must be getting some cause they've been in a pretty good mood lately.

Yesterday they cleared the Delta/Northwest merger making for the world's largest airline...Now they're green-lighting the potentially new largest cell carrier.

[Tyson @ Oct 30th 2008 8:16PM]

Ok like Verizon doesn't already hold people by the balls. Does monopolistic power mean anything to the justice department anymore or is this part of Bush/ Republican deregulation/ unfettered free market like the banking industry, that Greenspan was testifying about the other day?

[KeegdnaB @ Oct 30th 2008 8:23PM]

Monopolistic?

Have you heard of AT&T, T Mobile, Sprint?
Just because a company has the most marketshare doesn't mean it has ALL the marketshare. This isn't really any different than the Sprint/Nextel merger or the Cingular/Old AT&T merger.

[Tyson @ Oct 30th 2008 8:55PM]

Monopolist yes have you heard of the elzinga-hogarty test for monopolistic power? Or even just Google monopolistic power because on the first page I get this article about Verizon http://www.complaints.com/2007/february/13/Verizon_behavior_reflects_monopolistic_power_16433.htm

Violating Antitrust laws does not require that you have all of the market it requires you have enough power to influence the market, does Apple or Linux exist in your world? If so why did Microsoft get sued for Antitrust violations and loose every appeal.

[thak @ Oct 30th 2008 10:01PM]

tyson.........please dont confuse verizon with verizon wireless...

[Valicore @ Oct 30th 2008 11:17PM]

Tyson,

Could you please not tie in loosely related stuff so you can bring politics up? That shit is everywhere right now and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect some escape from the "Obama's a Muslim"s and "John McCain eats babies"s considering this is a technology blog and one that covers the world not just the US. Just a request...

About the antitrust thing... those judgments were made against Microsoft because they coerced manufacturers into buying licenses for all the computers they made, and threatened to refuse to license any if they didn't. However, that's not the reason why Linux and Apple don't exist in your world. At that time Apple was just a competitor, their proprietary software and hardware.kept them kinda floating. At the time, Linux was not a competitor just because it was so damn hard to use. The other part of that was people wanted to be able to uninstall IE and Windows Media Player (by people I mean Real Networks, which is kinda funny looking back on it).

I have to say I really don't like to see massive companies like Verizon increasing their subscriber base and eliminating such a large regional competitor all at once. Alltel was/is a pretty good operation and I thought it helped to keep up the race for better prices and features..Even so, I don't think Verizon holds ANYONE by their balls (and if they do, it was probably agreed to). Even though I feel like they dime and nickel people on top of charging people more that I would pay, they keep low churn because they're reliable, have good customer support, and good coverage. Even if Verizon is the only provider who has coverage in your area, they're not a monopoly. That just means that the other carriers decided it wasn't worth their while to provide service to your area. That's part of the reason they charge more - it allows them to offer services in a lot of places that would otherwise be screwed. Also keep in mind that there are a lot (way more than you'd think) of local and regional carriers out there. Even though it seems on the surface like there is almost no competition, the opposite is true. If you wanna see carriers that hold their customer by the balls, go to Canada. You can get a whole 25 minutes of national calling for only C$39.95 a month plus 15% tax, but only with a THREE YEAR contract.

[Tyson @ Oct 31st 2008 12:37AM]

thak : noone is confusing anything VW is the one who holds monopolist power. Verizon is fine, their is plenty competition in that market.

Valicore: fair enough but it seemed quite relivant, considering this is the same administration's FTC that over looked the banking regulations and destroying the baking industry, makes you think doesn't it? And all Microsoft did was bundle their middle ware and eb browser into there OS,IE is part or windows and that raised the ire of the Clinton FTC because people were too stupid to know they could download a different browser. Here Telecom companies hold you in 2 year contracts and raise rates and act like an oligopoly and this FTC is oking a deal to make the market less competitive by allowing a big competitor to eat one of the few remaining smaller competitors. Microsoft did not try to buy out Apple or Linux nor netscape they just integrated their products to make it seamless and they were in trouble. Thats my whole point. I studied specialized in antitrust law and you don't need to know elzinga-hogarty to see that the ball is being dropped. And for all of you who want to vote what I said down I don't want to see you bitch when VW starts charging $0.50 a text coming and going unless you sign up got their $100 plain or their soon to come $25 unlimited text plan and you have no choice any more because they either A) the other 3 big companies follow suit as they did when VW started charging for incoming texts or B) Sprint gets bought by Verizon and ATT buys T-Mobile and you only have 2 choices for mobile phone service. Then ask yourselves do you disapprove of the 100% factual and accurate "political statement." PS I'm A republican and I can see the faults of what happened in the banking industry and deregulation and how the same thing or worse is bought to happen here

[TheNetAvenger @ Oct 31st 2008 4:05AM]

>>is part or windows and that raised the ire of the Clinton FTC

Actually the Clinton administration itself had little to do with the MS rulings. It started with the investigations started by Orin Hatch (R) from Utah when MS started hurting Novell and WordPerfect, two Utah based companies at the time.

It then got run up the flag pole once again during the Clinton years, and the DOJ took the matter on at lower levels with no interaction from the Clinton administration itself, other than appointing the AG.

Whether you think the Microsoft ruling was a circus or justice, it was the result of a lot of lobbying (something MS didn't know how to do at the time) and several Republican interests getting their kickbacks.

(If anyone notices, Gates to this day is friends with the Clintons, gave money to Hillary before he gave Money to Barack, and also works with the Clinton foundation with regard to his charities.)

PS. Yes Orin Hatch is a hypocrite that was on a witch hunt for MS...

[Tyson @ Oct 31st 2008 4:12AM]

TheNetAvenger: Agreed, I guess the more valid point was that the lobbyist that lobby for deregulation are the same who lobby for telecom. And it sucks that the DOJ does not do their job

[Alex Padilla @ Oct 30th 2008 8:31PM]

Are Chad's text messages still gonna be expensive?

[Valicore @ Oct 30th 2008 11:24PM]

"Mr. Padilla,
Welcome to Verizon Wireless! To respond to your question, we offer multiple packages for texting and more with great savings! For the casual texter, we offer a super-convenient pay-per-text option! We're glad to say that it's only 25 cents per domestic text message sent or received. Once again, welcome to the Verizon Wireless family, we look forward to having your our sla..,. customer for a long, long, long time to come"

[Travis @ Oct 30th 2008 9:11PM]

I better get a new phone out of this deal.

[Cramberto @ Oct 30th 2008 11:31PM]

that's what she said

[Josh @ Oct 30th 2008 10:26PM]

So what happens to alltel customers in the markets that are divested markets? Assuming Verizon can't get Alltel's market in Cleveland, Oh since they have the A system here

[mike @ Nov 3rd 2008 12:21AM]

Well if there divesting the market it will unlikely go to at&t but more likely one of the smaller companies, I was with AT&T (before at&t) and then when they sold we were one of the divested and ended up with Alltel as they were one of the smaller carriers at the time and won the bid for it. That's the other thing there not just handed to another company they will be sold off it just depends on who want it the most. From talks U.S Cellular and Sprint are looking like the two most likely of compaines as there CDMA but that doesn't rule other carriers out as AT&T was GSM and ended up with a CDMA so only time will tell

[Neeko @ Oct 31st 2008 12:49AM]

cmon sprint do something 2 make me proud.

[Brazell @ Oct 31st 2008 1:00AM]

I hate verizon, but I'm glad because I am SO SICK of those stupid Alltel commercials with that douchebag Chad. Please, Justice Dept., just approve those to get them off the air!

[absurdio @ Oct 31st 2008 5:59AM]

Is there any chance that this'll give my (Verizon) phone better reception in my apartment?
...that may reveal my complete ignorance of what's this deal entails, but better reception is about the only reason this could possibly interest me.

(That's a real question, by the way, not just some snarky rhetorical thing. If someone has an answer, I'd be happy to hear it...)

[brian @ Oct 31st 2008 9:46AM]

Dear DOJ,

We really need this merger, there is way too much competition out there. I really can't stand how the different companies plan pricing varies by as much as 1 cent from each other. We must accelerate the consolidation back to a central BELL company so that they can establish unilateral pricing for all. My service is way too cheap, and I know the companies deserve more money, so that they can give that rude bitch that answers the phone at customer service another undeserved raise in these hard economic times.

Thanks for listening.

[Aries @ Nov 2nd 2008 6:55AM]

Actually Verizons Customer Service was amazing for years, the bitch you speak of works for sprint and alltel.Cancelled my contract and ate 250$ to get away from her, went back to good old reliable Verizon. Yoou're welcome to bitch and moan but reality is this;

Companies buy other companies. Gasp. How old fashioned. Come crying to me when they buy Spint, Tmobile, Edge, At&t, Cingular, and all the other little companies out there. Then we can discuss "monopolistic".

[brian @ Nov 3rd 2008 10:51AM]

ATT already owns Cingular and Edge.