Verizon Wireless closes Alltel acquisition, lays out path forward

by Darren Murph posted Jan 14th 2009 at 9:20PM

Welp, that's that. But not really, because acquiring a company as big as Alltel and shoving it into a company as gigantic as Verizon Wireless simply can't be easy. To that end, VZW has issued a release that details the steps forward now that the deal itself is closed. For starters, Alltel employees below executive level will continue in their present jobs as Verizon Wireless assesses staffing needs, and Verizon intends to re-brand Alltel operations in retained markets (read: the ones not divested by force) in phases, beginning in the second quarter and continuing through the third quarter of 2009." As for Alltel subscribers, they won't need to take any action at this time, with everything in their current plan -- My Circle included -- remaining the same throughout the transition period. If you're interested in the rest (we're looking at you, loyal Alltel user), hop on down to the read link.

[Via phonescoop]

Filed under: Alltel, Verizon Wireless, EV-DO, CDMA, Misc

Tags: acquire, acqusition, alltel, broadband, network, plan, strategy, verizon, verizon wireless, VerizonWireless

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

joe @ Jan 14th 2009 9:35PM

Hey, at least the new Verizon can finally take the top spot away from that monopoly we call at&t

Neutral

Esquire0399 @ Jan 15th 2009 2:46AM

For AT&T to have a monoploy, there would have to be no VZW, no Sprint, no T-Mobile, etc. VZW was not that far behind AT&T before they acquired Alltel, so how was AT&T ever a monopoly?

Neutral

Jordan @ Jan 14th 2009 10:39PM

So does this mean that I should immediately go get an Alltel line with a friend's address so that I can have My Circle on Verizon Wireless forever? Or will that eventually end like AT&T "orange" killed AT&T "blue" features by deprecation?

Neutral

egloskerry @ Jan 15th 2009 12:46AM

I can guarantee you that big red will do away with all alltel plans. It's too complicated to keep two separate plan groups. So expect to see big red lose a lot of customers out of spite (the customer's, not big red's) in the next few months.

Highly Ranked

Joel @ Jan 15th 2009 4:20AM

VZW has already said officially and all that they will honor Alltel's contracts for 4 entire years before bouncing them to the big red new every 2.

Neutral

rediculous @ Jan 15th 2009 3:00AM

WOW!!! I thought that engadget was up on current news... Guess not since this deal closed on the 9th and it is now 5 days later.... What did everyone go on vacation or something?

Highly Ranked

Joel @ Jan 15th 2009 4:23AM

they already posted about that on the 9th. This is just the big plan.

Neutral

CapnShiner @ Jan 15th 2009 6:20AM

And even if they hadn't posted about it on the 9th, they were a bit preoccupied in Vegas, in case you couldn't tell by the big CES banner and CES optimized option at the top of the main Engadget site, for the past few days.

Neutral

kimberly @ Jan 15th 2009 12:57PM

They will do the same thing at&t/ cingular did when they merged together.

Cingular merged together with at&t then took at&t's name because it has been around longer. They did away with the former at&t plans because they were making the company lose money as well as the "bonus minutes" that were handed out every time you called and the free phones with no contract because you don't like your current one. The former at&t was digging itself a hole that needed to be fixed. They allowed the customers that had the former at&t to keep their plans and phones but if they want to change their plans or phones they have to merge over to the new at&t. Eventually tey will cut them all off because the only ones left are those with $39.99 plans and 600+ bonus minutes.

I don't see verizon taking altels name but don't expect my circle to stick around. That promotion is what caused altel to get themselves into this mess. They wanted customers but didn't look at the fact that production costs would be more than profit.

Neutral

BarryR @ Jan 31st 2009 3:19PM

As a former Verizon coustomer, believe me, Alltel customers will pay
much, much more for the expanded service area and Verizon's
famous NON-Customer Service.