AT&T-ATNI (Alltel) transaction approved (was "AT&T shopping spree continues...")

[Fraydog]

That's what people assumed here too. But when AT&T took over Rio Arriba and Taos counties here from Alltel back in 2011, Alltel customers received a notice in the mail saying they had 60 days to either get an AT&T device or lose 3G service.

 

True to form, AT&T shut down EVDO on the Alltel network about 10 weeks later and only 1x remained. My Alltel 3G roaming disappeared in AT&T areas. Well most of it.

 

I still got Alltel EVDO in Verizon areas for another year before they switched to start being labeled Verizon. And I still occasionally can get AT&T Alltel EVDO in remote areas where AT&T still has EDGE. AT&T decided not to shut down EVDO where it didn't use the 850 spectrum themselves.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

 

It might hurt VZW coverage a little bit. They can put up towers IMO, they have a monopolistic lock on Southern Illinois, they can deal with being a duopoly and make almost as much money.

[OhioCalling]

Approval sets dates for when their HSPA and LTE networks must be completed in the Alltel areas.  Current Alltel customers will also be given free phones equal to their current device with no contract extension.

 

The sale includes spectrum licenses on the 700, 850, and 1900Mhz and over 600,000 customers.

 

AT&T also agreed to operate CDMA voice and data roaming service on the Alltel network until at least June 2015.

 

How will this effect Sprint customers if at all?  I know I roam sometimes on the Alltel network here.

 

http://www.androidcentral.com/att-purchase-alltel-approved-fcc

 

[WiWavelength]

 

AJ

[Paynefanbro]

It might hurt VZW coverage a little bit. They can put up towers IMO, they have a monopolistic lock on Southern Illinois, they can deal with being a duopoly and make almost as much money.

 

Monopolistic. That is punny!

[Fraydog]

Element goes to AT&T on that chart too.

[Mobilesolutions]

I would love it if Sprint can buy cricket and US cellular. I think 4 national carriers is good enough for the US market. If consumers want a cheaper option, there are plenty of prepaid carriers that can offer that service (Virgin, Boost, Straight Talk, PagePlus, etc).

 

No, those purchases would sink the Sprint ship.  

-Will

[ericdabbs]

No, those purchases would sink the Sprint ship.  

-Will

 

Wow way to rehash an old comment.  Those were different circumstances that are now OBE.

[Mobilesolutions]

Wow way to rehash an old comment.  Those were different circumstances that are now OBE.

 

I apologize i glanced at the date, saw 22 & assumed it was of September.  Did not mean to bring the dead back to life  :F(x_x)F:

-Will

[Nickel]

I apologize i glanced at the date, saw 22 & assumed it was of September.  Did not mean to bring the dead back to life  :F(x_x)F:

-Will

Don't forget the fact that cricket is already spoken for as well.

[cdk]

I still think at some point Sprint acquires USCC,

[Nickel]

I still think at some point Sprint acquires USCC,

I think Sprint integrates with them really well and if they have to be acquired I hope it's Sprint.

[Fraydog]

I think Sprint integrates with them really well and if they have to be acquired I hope it's Sprint.

Now that SoftBank is in charge here, we can only hope Sprint snags USCC before AT&T does, or at least drives the price up for Stephenson to insane levels.

[Nickel]

Now that SoftBank is in charge here, we can only hope Sprint snags USCC before AT&T does, or at least drives the price up for Stephenson to insane levels.

AT&T has been on a spending spree lately and I think that the more likely target would be Verizon because they have all the same bands/airlinks.

[WiWavelength]

AT&T has been on a spending spree lately and I think that the more likely target would be Verizon because they have all the same bands/airlinks.

 

Cellular 850 MHz RSA overlap between VZW and USCC is too great.  Most of that would have to be divested, surely to AT&T.  Thus, acquiring USCC would net VZW little additional footprint.

 

AJ

[WiWavelength]

Element goes to AT&T on that chart too.

 

It is not my map, and it is several years old.

 

AJ

[Nickel]

Cellular 850 MHz RSA overlap between VZW and USCC is too great.  Most of that would have to be divested, surely to AT&T.  Thus, acquiring USCC would net VZW little additional footprint.

 

AJ

Ah, I didn't even think about the Cellular overlap. Hopefully that USCC/Sprint LTE roaming deal gets done, it would greatly benefit both.

[Rawvega]

The Sprint-Alltel reciprocal 3G roaming deal greatly benefited both and we all know what happened there. Sprint needs to take the proverbial bull by the horns and not get caught with their pants down again.

[Nickel]

The Sprint-Alltel reciprocal 3G roaming deal greatly benefited both and we all know what happened there. Sprint needs to take the proverbial bull by the horns and not get caught with their pants down again.

That's true, Sprint does have a history of forgetting their belt.

[WiWavelength]

Ah, I didn't even think about the Cellular overlap. Hopefully that USCC/Sprint LTE roaming deal gets done, it would greatly benefit both.

The Sprint-Alltel reciprocal 3G roaming deal greatly benefited both and we all know what happened there. Sprint needs to take the proverbial bull by the horns and not get caught with their pants down again.

 

The big prize was not so much Alltel as it was WWC.  Only after Alltel grabbed WWC did it become a major geographic player.

 

USCC is a bit like Alltel prior to the WWC merger.  Some of us in USCC's Midwest core could benefit from Sprint buying out USCC.  But for most Sprint subs, the addition of USCC as native footprint would be much ado about nothing.  It would not add any coverage near them, and it would not make the Sprint national map all that more impressive.

 

This is what you guys need to realize.  Acquiring regional operators is basically a lost cause for Sprint.  That ship sailed several years ago due to financial difficulties from the Nextel merger and lax oversight from a pro duopoly Republican administration.

 

Now, VZW and AT&T are both approaching critical mass.  They actually benefit more from these incremental acquisitions than Sprint would because they are just filling in the gaps, adding a bit more fuel for that nationwide chain reaction.

 

AJ

[Rawvega]

The big prize was not so much Alltel as it was WWC.  Only after Alltel grabbed WWC did it become a major geographic player.

 

USCC is a bit like Alltel prior to the WWC merger.  Some of us in USCC's Midwest core could benefit from Sprint buying out USCC.  But for most Sprint subs, the addition of USCC as native footprint would be much ado about nothing.  It would not add any coverage near them, and it would not make the Sprint national map all that more impressive.

 

This is what you guys need to realize.  Acquiring regional operators is basically a lost cause for Sprint.  That ship sailed several years ago due to financial difficulties from the Nextel merger and lax oversight from a pro duopoly Republican administration.

 

Now, VZW and AT&T are both approaching critical mass.  They actually benefit more from these incremental acquisitions than Sprint would because they are just filling in the gaps, adding a bit more fuel for that nationwide chain reaction.

 

AJ

 

I get that acquiring USCC wouldn't make Sprint's coverage map look like VZW's. What about the customers though? As the US market gets more and more saturated it's that much harder to gain new subscribers which means that Sprint has to try to pry them away from the other three national players, among others. That's not an easy task. A USCC acquisition would bring Sprint just shy of 5 million subscribers which is still not enough to close the gap between AT&T and VZW in any meaningful way of course. However, the majority of USCC's subscriber base is of the more valuable postpaid variety unlike the T-Mobile acquisition of MetroPCS and AT&T's current acquisition of Leap which can only be a good thing.

[Nickel]

The big prize was not so much Alltel as it was WWC.  Only after Alltel grabbed WWC did it become a major geographic player.

 

USCC is a bit like Alltel prior to the WWC merger.  Some of us in USCC's Midwest core could benefit from Sprint buying out USCC.  But for most Sprint subs, the addition of USCC as native footprint would be much ado about nothing.  It would not add any coverage near them, and it would not make the Sprint national map all that more impressive.

 

This is what you guys need to realize.  Acquiring regional operators is basically a lost cause for Sprint.  That ship sailed several years ago due to financial difficulties from the Nextel merger and lax oversight from a pro duopoly Republican administration.

 

Now, VZW and AT&T are both approaching critical mass.  They actually benefit more from these incremental acquisitions than Sprint would because they are just filling in the gaps, adding a bit more fuel for that nationwide chain reaction.

 

AJ

I don't understand, why is it a lost cause to buy rural carriers when they before the only reason they didn't was because they didn't have the money to? 

 

Also, just because it doesn't benefit everyone doesn't mean it isn't worthwhile. Of course, it's highly dependent on how much Sprint would have to pay for it. And why exactly does who the president was matter about AT&T and Verizon? I don't see the Obama administration trying to stop AT&T and Verizon at all.

[Fraydog]

Democrat? Republican? I can barely tell the difference when it comes to the FCC. Both the Bush and Obama administrations have been bad at allowing a bunch of corporate BS.

 

As far as spending money on some regionals here and there, I think USCC would yield a bigger coverage area than people may at first think.

 

The most important thing I can think of is that IT KEEPS THAT SPECTRUM OUT OF THE HANDS OF AT&T.

[gnoj]

As far as spending money on some regionals here and there, I think USCC would yield a bigger coverage area than people may at first think.

 

The most important thing I can think of is that IT KEEPS THAT SPECTRUM OUT OF THE HANDS OF AT&T.

 

Yea, Sprint could use a boost in coverage in rural Iowa, Nebraska, and SW Wisconsin, to name a few places. I'm happy with USCC staying independent for now, but as soon as it looks like anyone's sniffing around hungry for their spectrum or other assets, Sprint needs to jump in and pick them up.

 

Sprint phones already support Cellular 850 for 3G voice & data, so an integration should go fairly smoothly. Just add Band 12 LTE to future handsets (which is likely anyway due to plans for rural LTE roaming partnerships), and in the immediate aftermath of a merger they'd be good to go. Longer-term, of course, Sprint would need to spend some capex on bringing USCC sites up to NV standards.

[Nickel]

Democrat? Republican? I can barely tell the difference when it comes to the FCC. Both the Bush and Obama administrations have been bad at allowing a bunch of corporate BS.

 

As far as spending money on some regionals here and there, I think USCC would yield a bigger coverage area than people may at first think.

 

The most important thing I can think of is that IT KEEPS THAT SPECTRUM OUT OF THE HANDS OF AT&T.

Yup, Someone will end up buying them, the only question is who.