| The Clock is Ticking They'd better get going. They have until January before the FCC and the FTC get a new boss. If the Dems win, it gets harder to do a deal like this. McCain has chaired a senate committee that oversees telecom, so he might be more inclined to let this one happen (given he could have raised issue with or held hearings on the number of telco mergers that happened while he held that post and as far as I can recall didn't).
Alltel was the one real financially viable threat to Big Red and the Death Star. Shame. The only real remaining hope for more robust competitors in wireless is the cable cos.
Possibly the biggest lift for VZ other than subs and spectrum is not having to pay roaming fees in all those rural areas Alltel has service and VZ doesn't. With so many people on national plans, they pay hard $ to other carriers when customers roam outside a VZ area and have to eat it for a growing % of customers. There are still some mom and pop carriers out there in heavy travel corridors that make their living that way.
We will likely end up with three carriers...two strong ones that are good at and suck at different things and a weaker one that is a cobbling together of Sprint, T-Mobile and whatever else is left. Once thought Alltel was going to be the center of gravity for that 3rd piece and it would stand half a chance if it could build a good board and have strong senior management. Looks now like it'll become the south wing of Big Red's empire. |
