Private Equity Groups Purchase Alltel
Finally!!!!!
I think they'll split the company up and sell the towers and customers to companies they are compatible with (cdma to verizon/gsm to att & Tmobile).
There is alot more money to be made by breaking up a company than to hold onto it especially in wireless where huge investment is required to expand coverage.
colione112 said:
I don't think they'll wait to sell to a bigger carrier.
I think they'll split the company up and sell the towers and customers to companies they are compatible with (cdma to verizon/gsm to att & Tmobile).
There is alot more money to be made by breaking up a company than to hold onto it especially in wireless where huge investment is required to expand coverage.
In one way, splitting up the company will make it easier for various carriers to buy Alltel, than for Verizon, Cingular, or USCC to buyout Alltel, then be forced to divest certain markets. If anything, I see in areas where Alltel has GSM networks on separate spectrum licenses to be sold to T-Mobile & AT&T, but T-Mobile & AT...
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But I wouldn't put it past the new owners to require they buy less profitable areas in order to get the more sought after markets.
There are many areas in the US where only one carrier owns towers, however no anti-trust lawsuits or claims have been made that I am aware of. If you know of any, please post them, I'd be eager to read up on the topic.
mr.white said:
If they buy the whole company they will still have to divest the parts where there is only one other competitor. Thats how it always happens. That is how US Cellular got into KS. They purchased the Celline towers from Alltel-WW merger.
That is correct. Alltel gained markets from the Cingular/AT&T deal. US Cellular gained markets from the Alltel/Western Wireless/CellOne deal. Rural Cellular gained CellOne markets from the Alltel/Western Wireless/CellOne/Midwest Wireless deal.
Sometimes, companies swap territories. Such as som SunCom markets becoming Cingular, and some AT&T Wireless markets becoming SunCom.
Back in the day, AT&T Wireless even got a market from US Cellular (Florida), wh...
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I just didn't know Alltel had GSM towers???
Several areas have their data speed (EDGE) "turned down" so as to lower the cost because the tower doesn't require full use of the frequencies.
This isn't saying it's happening all over, but I was told by a tower tech supervisor that many areas that didn't use alot of data had the EDGE speeds turned down. I can only assume that this policy has been reversed with the big push for data company wide.
I noticed though that you wrote "Not always. If a tower has a history of less than 50% usage, they may turn it down to say 60%."
Wouldn't going from 50% to 60% be going up? Not down?
I'm still having trouble understanding why they would want to make a tower less reiiable, less powerful.
Say the tower is at 100% (voice and data).
After a designated time period, only 50% of the channels are being used. So they turn it down from 100 to 60% so they can use the frequencies on other nearby towers if necessary.
Just because a company may choose to do this, doesn't mean any tower is less powerful, just more efficient.
Tower X uses 50% of it's designated frequencies.
Tower Y uses 100% and is often overloaded.
While one tower is always busy, the other is only being used half the time. The company may choose to turn down one tower and use those frequencies on the other tower to allow more usage.
Not sure if I explained it right, but do u understand?
So what do you do that you know so much about this sort of stuff???
I frequent PhoneScoop, and other websites just because I enjoy the evolution of the wireless industry, and am monitoring the market for new handsets, and advancements of more consiladed mobile phones.
Do you have any inside info as to when Cingular is going to up the HSDPA speeds from crappy 400-700kbps up to modern 3.6mbps speeds???
I heard sometime in the 2nd half of this year.
Also, is it accurate that Cingular is going to launch MobileTv on the MediaFlo network 4th qtr this yr???
It would be great if you knew anything about these things
MediaFlo: Yes, it's already been confirmed it will come to ATT, but they haven't given a specific date yet. I would assume they have to develop handsets specifically for this purpose.
However, since most of Alltel's GSM coverage is rural coverage, I don't think that spectrum is any problem at all. I can't imagine North Dakota's statewide population of less than 640,000 using so much Alltel spectrum that GSM must be turned low in order to properly function.
As far as this Montana guy is concerned, I would welcome a strong GSM network with open arms.
That would be an impressive move to make, but I doubt they have the balls to pull such a move off.
Their debt load is already pretty large, not to mention all the money they are spending right now rebranding Cingular as ATT.
If they did pull it off though, it would shake a lot of things up out here. Our cell service is pretty much ruled by VZW, with Alltel being the only half assed alternative.
This is why I doubt any acquisitions are in the distant future (2008 at the earliest).
Verizon is big in the rural areas, and I think it would be in ATT's best interest to get into the rural areas soon.
colione112 said:
I think eventually they'll have to get into the rural areas a little more. The major carriers are fighting for customers in the major cities.
Verizon is big in the rural areas, and I think it would be in ATT's best interest to get into the rural areas soon.
Agreed. If AT&T could get into the rural areas with *affordable* data, they could gain a lot of revenue. That would also be good for consumers. AT&T has quite a bit of rural coverage in the southeast, but the West would be great.
Any carrier could gain with affordable data in rural areas. Of course, a lot would have to do with expected deployment costs versus expected revenue.
Alltel as a standalone company wouldn't h...
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