Alltel is safe with both Goldman and TPG. You should see many changes between the public company it was to the private entity it will be. I doubt that they would be bought out by either Sprint or Verizon later on because it just doesn’t make sense to spend that money on Alltel. Perhaps that roaming EV-DO deal that Sprint and Alltel has will expand.

When I moved to Charlottesville, VA in November, 2004, I had a Verizon service out of DC. I was told then, and several times since, that Verizon could not get into Charlottesville or the surrounding counties because there was no tower space. Lo and behold, this past Monday morning, the Charlottesville daily paper's front headline announced that Verizon will be here in Charlottesville by 2010, allegedly having bought space on existing towers. OK, if you want to believe that Alltel isn't ripe for a takeover, you go ahead. The financial holding companies get to make the rules now, not Alltel. As far as I know, Goldman Sachs isn't going into the wireless business. Comcast might, but not GS. It smells like a takeover here to me. I could b...
(continues)

The only reason why Verizon Wireless couldn’t enter that market is that they didn’t own spectrum to do so. That excuse that you were given with no tower space is ridiculous because there is always space for a tower whether it is hidden, on a hill, or on buildings. There will always be space for towers. They could also put their equipment on existing carriers who are there. They roam off Alltel so if Verizon wants to get there the best way is to look at all the cell sites that can be deployed. Another important factor that carriers look at have to deal with how much was the spectrum was purchased for and what kind of a return they would have if they would offer those services to the customers. In addition, the demographics of that area are ke...
(continues)

You make a reasonable argument, nextel18, and I can't take issue with almost anything you said here. The one thing I will take exception with is that Charlottesville is not a po' hick town...this is fairly wealthy Albemarle County, with the University of Virginia as its centerpiece. Further, Verizon is all around us. If you were to take a protractor, put the needle in the middle of C-ville, and draw a circle of a 50-mile radius, less than half of that circle would have VZW service in it. Lynchburg, about an hour to the south of us, WILL have Verizon very soon. It's definitely going to happen, just a matter of time. The reason I think a takeover will still take place, though, available tower space notwithstanding, is that there can only...
(continues)

Wealthy is a term determined by many people in different manners especially by the analysis of cost vs. potential revenue opportunity in a given area. Only reason why they couldn’t enter the area was no spectrum as I mentioned before, the tower excuse the other person was was ridiculous and wrong. I still don’t think spending the $27B+ for Alltel is justified to get in that one area because what they could is Verizon team up with Alltel with more roaming deals in place. Problem is; many companies have policies against roaming such as if the user uses more than a certain percentage on the roaming company’s network than their own networks. Obviously, that cost would be excessively much for the carrier whose user doesn’t use their network as mu...
(continues)

If I'm not mistaken nextel18, the roaming agreements have taken place on data (Ev-DO). Sprint does have a good relationship with Alltel. Don't see a buy out from Sprint or VZW too. 😉

Sprint is the preferred roamer for Alltel phones, for voice and data. Verizon is next for voice and 1x data.

Thank you for sharing that with everyone in the forums. (I knew that already). Thanks again. 😉

You said...."If I'm not mistaken nextel18, the roaming agreements have taken place on data (Ev-DO)."

I was just making sure you were aware that it is for voice as well as data that's all. 🙂

😉

Exactly my point. It is cheaper than a buyout unless obviously if certain circumstances happen. Such as an increase cost for Sprint.

The fact is that NOBODY knows what is going to happen for sure. All of this is opinion on all our parts, even those of the educated guessers. I work for Alltel, and for every five people, there are six opinions. We're just going to have to let this thing play itself out. IF Alltel intends to take part in the 700 Mhz auction next year and actually walk away with some bandwidth, I think they will be around for a while. If they don't, I think Alltel will go down in flames and be taken over by Verizon. Now, that's only my opinion, and I have no proof of same. I'm sure there are a lot more conjecturists out there with other takes. Bottom line...what will be, will be. Que sera!

People who keep mentioning Sprint in the buyouts can think again. I currently work in the industry and it is known that the CEO for Alltel visited Sprint headquarters over the summer to make a Sprint buyout offer but Sprint turned it down. In this recent buyout of Alltel Verizon had made a substantially higher offer but was turned down because of fear of mass layoffs of Alltel employees. All of this information comes from an Alltel executive that will be unnamed.

I would seriously like to know where everyone is getting all thier information.
Verizon will never buy Alltel. Sprint would not have a chance in ummmm Hell....
Alltel has already been bought out if that is what you want to call it...that was done six months ago by private investors. The entire structure of Alltel changed...all for the better.
Alltel is adding more territory and features at record speeds...and is not in the market for Verizon to come and purchase them.
I have worked for Sprint and Verizon as a store manager...I left both companies because you have to believe in the product you sell....I am now a Store Manager with Alltel and will be the first to tell you hands down in this market and many others....Alltel will be number ...
(continues)

People need to stop saying that purchasing can never happen, because it can. The idea of the investment private equity investors buying Alltel was to streamline their operations, improve their financials, enhance their networks, and possibly bid on spectrum in the upcoming auction. Private equity companies love to buy companies, fix them up, and then sell them whether it is doing an IPO or just to another company all together. Alltel is in a good position because it has roaming deals with both Sprint and Verizon but if the economics of those roaming deals are not in the carriers’ favors then we will probably see a buyout, but obviously it will depend on who will bite first. Alltel and Sprint already have a DO deal so I doubt it would be Spri...
(continues)

I would watch out for Alltel buying up someone verses someone trying to buy Alltel.

Like who? Leap/Metro (if the deal goes through)

👿 why work for a company that you have no faith in....if you think that they will go down in flames how much are you really doing for Alltel?

It's quite possible all the damage has been done already. When Alltel sold out to the financial holding companies, they lost control of their company, making them very ripe for a takeover. The only company that is in a financial position to buy them out is...VERIZON! In spite of what Verizon is saying at the moment, when all is said and done, money talks and bleep-bleep walks. As far as the present is concerned, I think Alltel is just about as good as it gets, but all of us know the only thing that is absolutely constant is change. Verizon will be in my backyard in three years. There are already too many players fighting for the cellular dollar here in Charlottesville already. I suspect when VZW gets here, there will be some mammoth c...
(continues)

Obviously, everyone knows that the whole point of private equity is to buy the company out, fix it and either do an IPO or sell it to some other company. I would not say that Verizon is not the only company to buy them especially since they are spending massive on their capital expenditures in the wireless division but more importantly spending a lot more capital expenditures on their wire line division with FIos. Obviously if Alltel mergers with either Verizon or Sprint there will be synergies, which will obviously, subtract that from the total price purchase. It just depends highly on economics and roaming deals in place and whether they think that buying the company will improve its competition into the markets. I do not think that buying...
(continues)