Man alive, WMExperts is reporting that Verizon is purchasing Alltel! And Dieter says:

Can you also say "Goodnight Sprint?"

Hmmm, that's definitely a possibility.

According to the article, Verizon is dishing out $5.9 billion in cash and taking on another $22.2 billion in debt for a grand total of 28.1 billion dollars. *Gulp*.

A Forbes article reports that Goldman Sachs analyst Jason Armstrong said that the move comes at a good time, as business trends for Alltel and for the wireless industry have improved. Armstrong said that subrcribers are rising and data revenue is growing, and a combination could be "a largely beneficial move" because Alltel and Verizon share technology and are looking to grow.

According the Forbes article, technological differences would reduce AT&T's interest. And regarding Sprint, their business problems will probably prevent them from making an offer. Not very suprising.

Although the deal hasn't been sealed, Baird analyst William Power said that upon the deal being completed, Verizon would have the largest subscriber base in the industry. Wow!

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