The Justice Department has given their approval for Verizon's planned $28 billion acquisition of Alltel, though as expected, the deal will require Verizon to offload some network assets in 22 states where the carriers overlap. The FCC will now vote on the acquisition November 4, and FCC chief Kevin Martin is expected to require that Verizon sell operations in five additional rural areas to "prevent the carrier from gaining too much market power," according to Bloomberg. Martin traditionally is only pro-consumer when it looks good, so it's likely these were markets Verizon cared little about anyway. Consumer advocates meanwhile see no consumer benefit to the deal.

The latest J.D. Power and Associates wireless call quality survey has been released, and ranks call quality by six geographic regions (Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, North-Central, Southwest and West).

Alltel today announced that the company has finally got around to seriously upgrading their 3G wireless broadband network with EVDO Revision A technology. The upgrades will increase average downstream speeds from 400-700kbps to between 600kbps and 1.4Mbps. Upstream speeds will jump from an average of 50-70kbps to 500-800kbps. Alltel CEO Scott Ford has also this week been discussing the acquisition by Verizon Wireless in more detail, saying that Alltel tried to buy several companies, including Sprint (three times).

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin yesterday laid out his agency's plan to tackle the high early termination fees (ETFs) subscribers face when they cancel their service while under contract. Martin's plan is not-so-coincidentally similar to a plan set forth by the wireless industry last month.

CNBC reports that Verizon is in deep negotiations to acquire Alltel for around $27 billion, which I'm fairly sure Verizon has in their petty cash drawer. According to CNBC, Verizon has been eyeing the acquisition for a while, but thought Alltel's valuation was too high when two private investment firms nabbed the company last year.

Verizon Wireless, fresh off of their settlement with New York's Attorney General for falsely advertising their service as "unlimited," is suing wireless carrier Alltel for false advertising. According to Bloomberg News Verizon is suing over an Alltel series of ads (see one here) that claim Verizon Wireless customers must extend their contracts when they change calling plans. Says a Verizon executive of these outrageous claims:By "fiction" they mean they did that three months ago, but they don't any longer. Verizon Wireless changed their policies after Sprint was sued by the Minnesota Attorney General for extending customer contracts every time they made even minor changes to their wireless plans. In other words, Alltel's ad would technically be true if they'd run it three months ago.

Two private investment firms have completed their purchase of Alltel. The purchase was announced in the spring and then approved by the FCC last month. It’s been said that this gives Alltel a better position for growth through bidding in the upcoming spectrum auction. However others fear that the debt of the transaction (approximately $23 billion) puts Alltel in a limited buying position. Current president and CEO Scott Ford will remain on board as Alltel works to move forward as a new company.

Wireless revenue is a cash cow for the major phone providers, but overall customer satisfaction with the retail experience has continually declined since 2006, according to the latest report by J.D. Power and Associates.

It was announced back in May that Alltel would be jointly acquired by a pair of investment firms. The deal, which is supposed to close before Thanksgiving, has been waiting on FCC approval. That approval has been granted, allowing Alltel a better platform for competing in the upcoming wireless spectrum auction. However, the FCC did impose an interim cap on the amount of access Alltel will have to the Universal Service Fund which assists companies in building rural connections. The cap can be lifted if Alltel complies with certain E911 service conditions after the acquisition.

It looks like Alltel has jumped into the Wi-Fi business, striking a new deal with Boingo Wireless that will give Alltel customers access to the Boingo hotspot network. According to the press release, the company is offering EVDO broadband customers (who pay $60 per month) the option to bundle in Wi-Fi service for an additional $9.99 per month. The Wi-Fi access costs $22 per month for customers on less expensive data or voice plans. The company is also offering pre-paid Wi-Fi cards for $19.99 per week or $9.99 per day.

PC Magazine has an interesting look at how four wireless operators treat the new RAZR 2 differently. And by differently, we mean different software, different internal hardware, different browsers, different features crippled and different services not allowed:The carriers call this "competition." The article author says "this shows exactly what's wrong with the US market."