Oh boy......here we go again. THIS could get fun.

D

Digger

Guest
Brian's not gonna' like this. :XXROFL:

Verizon Wireless Buys Alltell in $28.1B Deal

Verizon Wireless made a bid to become the nation's largest cell phone company by announcing a $28.1 billion deal to acquire regional carrier Alltell.

Verizon plans to acquire Alltell's equity for $5.9 billion and assume its $22.2 billion in debt. The two sides said they hope to have the deal completed by the end of the year.

Just seven months ago Little, Rock, Ark.-based Alltell was taken private in a leveraged buyout worth $27.5 billion by TPG Capital and a unit of Goldman Sachs (GS).

Alltell is the nation's fifth-largest wireless carrier, with more than 13.2 million subscribers and nearly $9 billion in annual revenues. It also serves 57 mostly rural markets that Verizon Wireless does not serve.

Combined with the 67.2 million customers from Verizon Wireless, the company will now have more than 80 million customers, compared to 71.4 million for rival AT&T (T).

Verizon Wireless is a joint venture between Verizon Communications (VZ) and Vodafone (VOD). Shares of Verizon Communications were up about 5% on the deal even though the stock traded lower after initial reports of a merger broke on Wednesday.

"This is a perfect fit, with Alltel's high-value post-paid customer base, its solid financials, our common network technology, and significant, readily attainable synergies," said Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg in a press release.

The deal still faces regulatory approval from both the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice. To receive the green light from the government Verizon may be forced to divest itself of assets in regions where its coverage overlaps that of Alltell's, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Verizon said is sees synergies of $9 billion after integration costs are removed.

The Alltell deal comes just a few months after Verizon Wireless made a $9 billion investment in a radio spectrum at a FCC auction.

Also on Thursday, France Telecom SA (FTE) made an unsolicited offer to buy Sweden-based TeliaSoneraAB (TLSNF) for $42 billion. However, TeliaSonera rebuffed the bid quickly, saying the offer was too low. A deal between the two companies would create the world's fourth-largest telecom.
 
buckaroo said:
I believe he is referring to Brian France on this one.
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Oh... I try not to think about him too much, so I must have had a mind block on his name. LOL Thanks for clearing that up. Actually, my mind is mush lately, so I'm lucky if I even sound half-way coherent. :) Sorry Andy!
 
UPDATE: Verizon Wireless said Thursday it would buy rural mobile phone service provider Alltel Corp for $28.1 billion, including debt, which would vault it to first place in the U.S. market ahead of AT&T Inc. Under the deal, Verizon Wireless would acquire the equity of Alltel for $5.9 billion and take on an estimated $22.2 billion in debt, mostly incurred when Alltel was taken private in November in a leveraged buyout by TPG Capital and Goldman Sachs Group Inc's GS Capital Partners. Verizon Wireless said the deal would create savings of $1 billion in the second year after closing, which is targeted for the end of 2008, pending regulatory approval. It forecast total savings of more than $9 billion by 2011, driven by reduced capital and operating expenses. Verizon Wireless and Alltel, which has more than 13 million customers, together would have more than 80 million customers. AT&T ended the first quarter with about 71 million customers.(Forbes.com), no word on how or if this would effect the sponsorship [which is good thru 2008] of the #12 Penske Racing Dodge of Ryan Newman, whose primary sponsor is Alltel.(6-6-2008)
 
I'll tell you what the biggger problem is, a lot of current Alltel wireless devices won't work on the Verizon network.
 
Hmmm.. B.S.? Isn't that a little harsh or do you know everything about the company? I have Verizon and I've gotten the best reception EVER from any other carrier I've had, yet I hear others say theirs was TERRIBLE. Mine rarely drops calls and works in places other carrier phones don't. My daughter has Cingular/ATT and hers drops calls in her house and I can use mine just fine in her house. Plus, it depends on the phone you have. Some may be more compatible than others. I think they'll make the transition slowly such as ATT did with Cingular and Sprint with Nextel. The last thing they need is an over-load or complaints and people not renewing their service w/them or dropping them.
 
WNY24Fan said:
Hmmm.. B.S.? Isn't that a little harsh or do you know everything about the company? I have Verizon and I've gotten the best reception EVER from any other carrier I've had, yet I hear others say theirs was TERRIBLE. Mine rarely drops calls and works in places other carrier phones don't. My daughter has Cingular/ATT and hers drops calls in her house and I can use mine just fine in her house. Plus, it depends on the phone you have. Some may be more compatible than others. I think they'll make the transition slowly such as ATT did with Cingular and Sprint with Nextel. The last thing they need is an over-load or complaints and people not renewing their service w/them or dropping them.
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Most definetly depends on the phone, i had sprint nextel for a few years and they were horrible here in Ma. I switched to AT&T and their quad band phone picks up everywhere that my sprint phone would not.
 
I hate to agree with Andy. However, he is correct. One of the big reasons the companies were interested in one another was hardware compatability. Most likely, the only things Alltel customers will notice a difference in is less roaming, and a new logo on network start-up.
 
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