Verizon To Buy Alltel Imminently?
Verizon has always eyed regional carrier Alltel, they have existing voice and data roaming agreements as well as similar network infrastructure and long term build out plans. I was rather shocked when Verizon allowed private investors to snap them up about a year ago.
Even though time has passed seems that Verizon is still interested, and may close on a multi billion dollar purchase real soon.
Verizon is no stranger to throwing their weight around and buying out small carriers. Alltel though, is a whole different story. They have 13 million subscribers, and a nearly national level footprint. This is most likely where Verizon is looking. A unity of these two carriers would instantly give Verizon more than 80 million subscribers, giving them the crown once again of largest carrier by subscribers in the United States.
According to Reuters, they have a source close to the talks. They said that this deal is worth an astounding $27 billion. The acquisition would be very expensive, with Verizon paying off the near $23 billion in debt Alltel has. They would pay for the rest of the deal in cold hard cash. The deal would not affect the ownership of the company, which would remain 55/45 to Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group, respectively.
There is no time frame for when a deal might be reached, and no real confirmation. It is an interesting thought none the less. It would have several anti trust hurdles to clear, but with Sprint being a national level CDMA carrier against Verizon, it could be argued there will still be plenty of competition.
