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Leap and others asks FCC to deny Verizon/Alltel merger
Leap Wireless along with a group of rural carriers and associations including the Rural Telecommunications Group, NTELOS, SouthernLINC Wireless, SpectrumCo, the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies (OPASTCO), Mobi PCS, Revol Wireless, LCW and Denali Spectrum have petitioned the FCC to deny the proposed merger between Verizon Wireless and Alltel.
Leap and the other parties argue that the merger reduces the competitiveness of the wireless industry by eliminating a major regional carrier, exacerbates roaming issues by having fewer major roaming partners (particularly for CDMA carriers), and allows a mega-carrier to increasingly control spectrum.
Leap asks the FCC to do the following before it approves the merger: revise the existing Roaming Order by eliminating home roaming and "in-market" exclusion and initiate a rulemaking on spectrum caps.
For more:
- see this article
Related articles:
Rural operators want spectrum cap
FCC approves Verizon, RCC merger
Comments (2) | Post a comment
Comments
Posted by WilliamC | August 12, 2008 - 1:16pm
I wish you guys a lot of luck!!! I can not find a reason why the number one and number two telephone giants have to gobble up all the little carriers for their own personal enrichment. Right now it is harming the number three carrier with these acquisitions and this so called miracle of a phone - the Iphone. All you here is Iphone this and Iphone that... I thought the object or premise of the telephone or cellphone was to make a call and end a call? All these features embedded in these phones are hurting many good carriers and a lot of them are out of existence because of this trend. Competition is what keeps prices low and in check. Some carriers think that its exceptional size will cause prices to fall. Yes, they will fall for those who can't compete with these behemoths...Some companies do drop their costs but the giants have a strangle hold on some of the markets making it increasingly tougher to compete. Sprints old tag line comes to mind - Tell them to show it to you in writing and make the small print big enough so that you can read it...
Posted by Anonymous | August 12, 2008 - 4:30pm
When this is allowed to proceed, the market areas that were submitted as divest areas have most likely already been negotiated with at&t for a quick divestment. If this is true, and it is just my guess, but this would keep the smaller companies from access to markets to expand their areas, but on a side note if smaller companies like Leap or US cellular were to purchase some or all of these areas, sooner or later they will be back on the block and in the pocket of at&t with in a few years.
no winning scenario that I can come up with...well one that the consumer wins in the long run.
verizon big wig states that they are on schedule for end of 08 close.
fast considering the size of this and how long it has historically taken for other mergers of less mass.
