Verizon Wireless to Acquire Alltel

I know this is not exactly prepaid news but it is a big enough deal in the overall US telecom world to deserve mention here!

Verzion Wireless, after 2 years of toying around with the idea, has agreed to acquire Alltel for $5.9 billion in cash as well as assuming $22.2 billion of their debt. This deal, when closed, will make Verizon Wireless the largest mobile provider in the US overtaking the current top spot from at&t. Alltel currently has 13.2 million customers and Verizon has about 66.8 million which will bring the total to 80 million subs just slightly ahead of at&ts 72 million subscribers. The merger should not yield the same problems that the Sprint/Nextel deal did since both companies use the CDMA (code division multiple access) cellular technology, so integrating the networks should not be a huge issue.

Regulators in the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission will still need to review and approve this deal and if approved the deal should mostly complete by December of this year.