GSM vs. CDMA - Most Complete Article I ever seen.

Smaller carriers probobly do make a good amount of money from the larger ones on Roaming fees & figure they can hold out as long as they want, until someone comes along with the right amount of cash to buy them.

The problems can happen if a carrier decides not to do business with them anymore, but can only do that if they have a license in the area or are willing to tick off a lot of customers by having no service in an area.
Now if they are as stubborn as Sussex Cellular in NJ (they stayed with Analog only up till 1-2 years ago) was, they go under. But by the sounds of it they are trying to keep up with the big boys to keep the money flowing.

I am not sure which carrier(s) got license in the most recent acution up there, but if say Cingular did, then this carrier will be in trouble in due time & if T-Mobile did, Cingular may go with them on a roaming agreement & again cause them finacial problems.

As for someone like SunCom, A lot of us are suprised T-Mobile hasn't bought them out yet, they must be just as stubborn or didn't get an offer from anyone & they are all waiting to see if they go under.