Verizon says GSM carrier can buy CDMA carrier

[jones]

Verizon says GSM carrier can buy CDMA carrier
Thu Mar 29, 2007 1:53PM EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research) chief operating officer, Dennis Strigl, said on Thursday that a telecommunications carrier using GSM network technology could buy a carrier using CDMA technology.

Verizon is seen by analysts as the most likely bidder if rural wireless provider Alltel Corp. (AT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) seeks a sale, since both companies use the same CDMA network.

Dennis Strigl, asked in a Bank of America conference about the complexities of a GSM carrier buying a CDMA carrier, said such a move was "doable" and had been done before.
http://www.reuters.com/article/techn...EN590320070329

[T Sizzles]

*Cough* at&t *Cough* Alltel *Cough*

What Verizon is saying is that they want full ownership of their company before they expand it. They know at&t will fight for Alltel because they have the $$, and after the negotiation rumors went around, you have to think that there are some talks going on......

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by T Sizzles

*Cough* at&t *Cough* Alltel *Cough*

What Verizon is saying is that they want full ownership of their company before they expand it. They know at&t will fight for Alltel because they have the $$, and after the negotiation rumors went around, you have to think that there are some talks going on......

Gee wiz. I'm glad Verizon gave their blessing. Like the rest of the world really cared. That's like GM saying it was ok when Chrysler bought AMC/JEEP. Who cares if GM liked it or not, and who cares if Verizon likes the situation either?

-Jay

[strunke]

Yeah I'm not quite sure what the point of this is. Of course it is doable, as is a CDMA carrier buying a GSM carrier, and a CDMA carrier buying an iDen carrier....it is just a matter of whether it is worth it.

[bobolito]

A GSM carrier buying a CDMA carrier is as doable as a GSM carrier buying a TDMA carrier.

[billp]

Wirelessly posted (LGE-VX8300/1.0 UP.Browser/6.2.3.2 (GUI) MMP/2.0)

I think 1 they are buying it or 2 they feel if some one dose it will be 0 effect on them

[jones]

America has just too many Carriers,
More than What the Market can Take.
Consolidation is in the Future.
But Not right Now,
maybe in the Next 2-3 Years.

[bobolito]

Jones, with the recent price increases and emerging market control, which is approaching monopolization levels (AT&T and Verizon), do you think it makes sense to reduce competition at this point? Even if consolidation happens, I don't think it's good for you and me, the consumers. So I say America can use one more competitor. That's why I am against anyone buying Alltel. I rather them becoming a national carrier.

[RJB]

I for one would not complain if Verizon Bought them out it would sure help me on coverage.

[Gonz]

Yea, didn't AT&T buy Primeco in some texas markets a while back? And old AT&T bought the old USCC markets in the south (although I think those were TDMA at the time). Cingular here in WI (which was on Ameritech's old network) had CDMA running for a short time, until Ameritech got bought by SBC, making them Cingular.

I would like to see US Cellular and Dobson Cellular One get together for some reason. I think US could make a great GSM carrier. The interesting part of that would be (purely for an example) that the Milwaukee Metro area would have no CDMA on 850 anymore.

[agentHibby]

Originally Posted by RJB

I for one would not complain if Verizon Bought them out it would sure help me on coverage.

VZW would have to divest all of Utah except for Vernal and SE ID as well.

[strunke]

Originally Posted by Gonz

Yea, didn't AT&T buy Primeco in some texas markets a while back? And old AT&T bought the old USCC markets in the south (although I think those were TDMA at the time). Cingular here in WI (which was on Ameritech's old network) had CDMA running for a short time, until Ameritech got bought by SBC, making them Cingular.

I would like to see US Cellular and Dobson Cellular One get together for some reason. I think US could make a great GSM carrier. The interesting part of that would be (purely for an example) that the Milwaukee Metro area would have no CDMA on 850 anymore.

But if they did that, who would do what? USCC is CDMA, Dobson GSM. Which would they go with? I guess it depends on who is bigger and who buys who.

[Gonz]

I was along the lines of thinking USCC would buy Dobson. That, IMO, would be even more likely to happen should a GSM carrier buy alltel. I could personally see USCC doing something like alltel is now, and run both GSM and CDMA in some places for roamers. USCC running GSM would be a sight to see, but they sure did well with their old TDMA network. That still hands down beats the crap outta their CDMA voice quality even.

[blsemp]

Well I am ready for at&t to buy Alltel in the Carolinas and get their 850 freq and make better use of it ( ). Lets move forward with the purchase.

[jones]

Originally Posted by bobolito

Jones, with the recent price increases and emerging market control, which is approaching monopolization levels (AT&T and Verizon), do you think it makes sense to reduce competition at this point? Even if consolidation happens, I don't think it's good for you and me, the consumers. So I say America can use one more competitor. That's why I am against anyone buying Alltel. I rather them becoming a national carrier.

Agree the Prices are going up and Not Going Down.
However Alltel can't afford to be a National Carrier
as they're for Sale (Not to Mention there's Not enough
Spectrum or those License would Not be worth Billions of $
and Town Resentment of Tower Prolifiration).
Sometimes to Save a Competitor they have to Partner
with a National Carrier to become one.

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by jones

America has just too many Carriers,
More than What the Market can Take.
Consolidation is in the Future.
But Not right Now,
maybe in the Next 2-3 Years.

I think they don't have enough National carriers, there may be too many regional ones but if they merged together & became a National carrier then that would be ok.
In retrospect I still think the Cingular/AWE & Sprint/Nextel mergers were bad for the consumer as far as pricing goes and less choices, but network coverage & quality have been improving on the Cingular side & will for the Sprint side as they keep adding synergy sites & towers.

I again would like to see a Alltel/USCC or Dobson merger happen to make them closer to a national carrier or throw some other smaller carriers in if needed. Of course for us in the NYC area it wouldn't help since we would still be stuck with the 4 carriers, unless 1 of these other carriers won or will get spectrum in the past/next auction to cover these area's that would be missing.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Fire14

I think they don't have enough National carriers, there may be too many regional ones but if they merged together & became a National carrier then that would be ok.
In retrospect I still think the Cingular/AWE & Sprint/Nextel mergers were bad for the consumer as far as pricing goes and less choices, but network coverage & quality have been improving on the Cingular side & will for the Sprint side as they keep adding synergy sites & towers.

I again would like to see a Alltel/USCC or Dobson merger happen to make them closer to a national carrier or throw some other smaller carriers in if needed. Of course for us in the NYC area it wouldn't help since we would still be stuck with the 4 carriers, unless 1 of these other carriers won or will get spectrum in the past/next auction to cover these area's that would be missing.

I agree that the mega mergers have helped consumers in one way- native coverage. Prices have, undoubtedly, gone way up because of this. Sprint still is the more consumer oriented one out of the new "mega-merged" carriers, but that will probably only last until Sprint has(if they ever will) caught up to the big two carriers, customer wise.
Alltel/USCC would create a nice carrier with more expansive coverage and I honestly don't think that a carrier needs to be completely national in order to survive. ALLTEL and USCC by themselves may be too weak/small, but if the smaller carriers joined forces, they could survive and create a great network.

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by Andy

I agree that the mega mergers have helped consumers in one way- native coverage. Prices have, undoubtedly, gone way up because of this. Sprint still is the more consumer oriented one out of the new "mega-merged" carriers, but that will probably only last until Sprint has(if they ever will) caught up to the big two carriers, customer wise.
Alltel/USCC would create a nice carrier with more expansive coverage and I honestly don't think that a carrier needs to be completely national in order to survive. ALLTEL and USCC by themselves may be too weak/small, but if the smaller carriers joined forces, they could survive and create a great network.

I agree with Sprint being more customer oriented, but lately they seem to be following the #1 & 2 carriers on some ideas & rules.

As for Alltel & USCC yes they would do well without being a National carrier, but think for the consumer 1 to 2 more National Carriers would help big time.

Again maybe between what spectrum was won in the last auction & with the 700 Mhz auction coming up, if they did merge they could focus on getting the spectrum in the bigger cities they don't have license & become a National carrier, heck they could afford to spend more in these area's since they wouldn't need it in other area's of the country.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Fire14

I agree with Sprint being more customer oriented, but lately they seem to be following the #1 & 2 carriers on some ideas & rules.

As for Alltel & USCC yes they would do well without being a National carrier, but think for the consumer 1 to 2 more National Carriers would help big time.

Again maybe between what spectrum was won in the last auction & with the 700 Mhz auction coming up, if they did merge they could focus on getting the spectrum in the bigger cities they don't have license & become a National carrier, heck they could afford to spend more in these area's since they wouldn't need it in other area's of the country.

No doubt more national carriers would help consumers- I am, however, not sure how likely it is to happen to see a regional carrier become truly national. I could, however, see smaller regional carriers to merge and create large carriers that would do fine, even without serving all of the large cities, but you are right, having more national carriers would definitely help- I'm just not sure how likely it is to happen.

[Fire14]