I found out yesterday, just minutes after the FCC approved the merger of the two companies. I waited until today to make any comments, but no new information that I wanted is known yet.
Verizon Wireless will merge Alltel into their company. How this will affect my local market in the South Dakota area is still unknown. Under the deal, Verizon Wireless is forced to sell off the Alltel licenses in areas where Verizon now holds multiple licenses. This means South Dakota and North Dakota will see a new provider. It would be interesting to see AT&T come to our area, but my bet is on Sprint because they also use CDMA (the technology used by the local Alltel towers--AT&T uses GSM). The other possibility I have heard of is US Cellular, but I don't know the details of their company.
According to the WSJ:
To win over regulators, Verizon Wireless agreed to divest 105 markets in 22 midwestern, western and southern states where its network overlaps with Alltel's.
If Verizon Wireless's deal to acquire Alltel closes, as expected, Verizon Wireless will be the largest U.S. wireless carrier by subscribers.
The deadline for bids on those assets is Nov. 14, said people familiar with the matter. Potential bidders could include small wireless operators like U.S. Cellular and Centennial Wireless, as well as AT&T Inc. The Verizon assets could be worth between $3 billion and $4 billion, the people said.
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