Verizon to buy Alltel

Alright folks; it’s official. Verizon Wireless has stated that it will buy Alltel for $28.1 billion. Verizon has made a deal according to which it will pay $5.9 billion to Alltel to acquire its equity and assume a whopping $22.2 billion of its debt.

This acquisition will make Verizon Wireless the biggest cellular operator in the U.S. Verizon has 66.8 million subscribers now and by acquiring Alltel, it will add another 13.2 million to its subscriber base, thereby making it 80 million subscribers in total. The current number one operator, AT&T, has around 72 million subscribers.

An interesting aspect to this deal is, Alltel is probably the only company in the corporate history of America to have changed ownership so quickly. Last year, Alltel was acquired by the Texas Pacific Group and the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs for a similar price. This year, it has been acquired by Verizon.

Expectedly, this news has not made a big splash in the market as everyone and his mom knew that this was on the cards. This acquisition tale has been going on for years now and finally, it is official. If you remember, Verizon was actually keen to acquire Alltel last year, but Vodafone, its wireless partner, rejected the deal. But then, Verizon has managed to get what it wanted.

I think this is a perfect set up for Verizon for two reasons. First, both Alltel and Verizon use the same technology – CDMA. Second, Alltel has a good subscriber base in areas which are not covered by Verizon currently. So, it will extend Verizon’s network coverage platform. What do you think?

Categories: All things mobile phones.

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What does Yahoo - Microsoft deal mean for Google?

By now, I think everyone and their mother knows about Microsoft’s proposed buyout of Yahoo! And you should, because if it were to happen, it would be undoubtedly the biggest and the most important acquisition ever made in the industry. Now, what does this deal mean for mobile industry? A lot.

Firstly, we all know that Yahoo Go Mobile is a huge success and it’s really a brilliant interface which offers you the best of browsing experiences and the best of applications. Now, if Microsoft were to integrate Yahoo Go Mobile in its Windows Mobile, it could be huge. Though you can already download Yahoo Go Mobile on Windows Mobile, hardly anyone does. By integrating it into Windows Mobile, Microsoft could simply rejuvenate its Windows Mobile market and Yahoo could reach millions and millions of users effectively.

Yahoo Maps, as we know, is the market leader and when combined with Windows Mobile, it could be a potent rival to Google Maps.

Yahoo Mail, undoubtedly, is way better than Microsoft’s mail service and if integrated into Windows Mobile, could be a huge success. Already, Yahoo Mail is used widely on the iPhone.

When it comes to Instant Messaging, both Yahoo and Microsoft have winners in Instant Messenger and Windows Live Messenger respectively. When these two merge, they could cater to a huge market and be far more effective.

Yahoo already provides the widgets for iPhone and it has been popular with users. If Microsoft could use these widgets on its Windows Mobile devices, it would make them even more compelling for the users. Most importantly, Microsoft will be in a position to tackle the iPhone competition, which already uses Yahoo widgets.

Photos and Sharing would become far more comfortable and easier for the users, as they will be able to access Flickr and Windows Live Spaces, both of which are extremely popular.

Last but not least, if Yahoo and Microsoft did come together, the search app would become far more powerful and could pose a serious threat to Google’s dominancy in the search market.

So, a lot is being speculated on this proposed buyout and it would be interesting to see the developments from now on. It will also be interesting to see what Google does to face this giant of a competition. Interesting times ahead people, watch this space closely.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Yahoo, Microsoft.

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