Alltel Purchases Western Wireless-CellularONE

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Alltel will have to divest some of their holdings and the FCC will auction them off if they own too much of the spectrum in a certain area... such as, oh, I don't know, Manhattan, KS. Besides, you'll always have T-Mobile and Sprint to choose from.

 

Well, I guess in about six months Alltel will have service there. Sorry there's no other choice for you.

 

Huh,
I would have expected alltel to snap up USCC before buying Cell One. Interesting. What's the order of carriers like now? Does WW use CDMA or GSM?

 

From my understanding, they use both. I'm not sure which they actually sell, but I know they do run both so as to capture more roaming traffic.

 

They sell CDMA

They allow roaming on GSM

 

I wonder if they are going to keep the GSM up as Alltel? As alltel is becoming a large rural carrier, they might have a huge advantage should they choose to keep us the GSM for roamers, as said.

 

Alltel's CEO stated last week that they will not only continue to support and expand GSM coverage in the WW areas, they will probably add GSM roaming in their existing markets.

Also, they intend to support existing TDMA service both for roamers and existing WW TDMA customers. Expect Alltel to become the king of rural roaming.

 

Thats Huge!

 

Yeah... and that's good since my "home" phone is a TDMA handset. Glad they're keeping the TDMA around for a few years.

 

Wow, now that really makes them a name to be reconned with! It would be nice to have that capability on the Alltel phones!

 

I've been talking to a few people in the industry and found out there may be more competition for the WW spectrum in NE & KS than originally thought.* Logic would say Verizon doesn't need the area since they have such a nice agreement w/Alltel. But, Cingular could use those areas, if for no other reason, to make sure that Alltel doesn't restrict or stop adding GSM roaming.

Conversely, it is for that reason Verizon would want to get it, just to keep it out of Cingular's hands! If the big boys really do get interested in these areas, the smaller carriers won't have a chance. And if it does get pricey, Verizon certainly has the cash advantage. Cingular's a bit strapped right now.

So what looked like a simple spinoff might turn into a bidding war. War? Yes. If Cingular thinks Verizon wants it, they could bid up the price to make it hurt, much like Vodaphone did when Cingular was bidding for AT&T.

I may be seeing ghosts, but this bears watching.

*These 'insiders' are guessing just like me, they're just better guessers.

 

Interesting, seems funny to fight over the midwest.

 

It is funny, but when you think of all the corporations that are based out of cities in the midwest, you figure that there is a lot of competition for all that business!

 

What name does Western Wireless market under for phone/plans? And does anyone know if they provide coverage or sell in Rochester MN?

 

You mean, gasp, Cingular might finally offer service in Manhattan? I love T-Mobile, don't get me wrong but there's just something about having the largest in-network calling "family" and also being with the only carrier to offer the Motorola V3 Razr. Then we'd have Cingular, Sprint, T-Mobile, Alltel/Western Wireless in Manhattan. Verizon, Cingular, Sprint, T-Mobile in Topeka, Lawrence and Kansas City... although I hear Alltel got some of Cingular/AT&T's spectrum in the Top, Law, KC area after their merger so maybe Alltel will be there, too. I haven't been able to confirm that, though.

Not really, there's a lot of roaming revenue there... you have to drive through the midwest to get to either coast, you know.

Western Wireless uses the CellularONE trade name except in Amarillo, TX where they do business as... Western Wireless. No, CellularONE-Western Wireless does not offer coverage in Rochester, MN.

 

Verizon will definitely not add GSM to their network. Forget about it. If they do they're stupid. See what happened to AT&T Wireless when they started adding GSM to their network. Also, VZW is stressed on spectrum in some areas of this country; they can't also hold an active GSM network with the additional traffic.

 

That is one of main problems that Verizon Communications and Vodafone have. Vodafone wants GSM on the Verizon Wireless network so Vodafone can roam on the network. Verizon Communications says no way!

 

Yup, agent, you are absolutely right. Adding GSM to their existing CDMA footprint would do more harm than good IMO.

 

I have the same opinion, that a GSM overlay would be bad for VZW... I just wanted to point out that Alltel is about to do it, although its understandable as to why, while VZW has VOD pushing them to do it... Even though I'm sure they won't. We'll see how long VOD will hang in there with VZW... I read somewhere back that Vodaphone might bid for T-MO... Although I havent heard this anymore, and assume that it was just a specualtion.

 

I concur...

 

The real push for Vodafone is for VZW to have WCDMA, I am thinking you would need to add some GSM infrastructure? If they did that. I do agree it won't happen

 

Vodafone won't bid for T-Mobile owned by one of their biggest rivals in Europe, Deutsch Telekom...forget it. No company would ever go from T-Mobile to Vodafone.