[eve6er69]

I found this article from my trusty viigo feeds
Let me know what you guys think
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090509/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_at_t_verizon_wireless

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[eve6er69]

I am on my phone for a few days so it dosent look like that link was posted correctly.
If not please let me know I can find another one.

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[ArmaK]

Yeah I about this in the other thread which contains a few more details.

http://forums.crackberry.com/f71/int...ut-vzw-224120/

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[TrendyProfessional1]

I remember reading a blurp about it a whie back. It if I remember correctly
has something to do with being a monoply........or fairness.
Something to that effect

[raskal1130]

I remember reading a blurp about it a whie back. It if I remember correctly
has something to do with being a monoply........or fairness.
Something to that effect

If that is true and at&t is getting these towers because verizon is a monopoly... the ones who says that is on crack because at&t is a huge monopoly in itself already. So I find that hard to believe.

[psionfenix]

I had read and heard about this during the whole alltel/vzw merger. Vzw had to divest some markets, so I don't think at&t is buying vzw towers, but what WERE vzw towers in certain markets.

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[eve6er69]

according to the article they are just buying the towers that overlap service's
so whereever alltel and vzw had service they will be buying one of those two towers.

i think it is hard to say if it is a monopoly because all a service provider needs to do is to cut a deal with the town to put up a tower or 2

[Xopher]

Even if AT&T buys the towers, they will still have to switch technologies that work on the towers from CDMA to GSM.

[NicoleW78]

I talked to an Alltel vendor today. This is what he told me. In the 4th quarter of this year (once the contracts and what not are all finalized with Alltel and ATT) then ATT will start offering a transition period to the Alltel customers allowing them to change phones. There will probably be some CDMA towers left for some diehard customers who won't change phones, but after about a year the Alltel customers will be running GSM phones.

I didn't ask how the towers (etc) will change over... maybe they won't need to do anything with those? *shrug* But he seemed pretty excited about the switch over. Doesn't really matter to me, as it looks like I'll be able to upgrade my phone earlier than I would have otherwise as I just signed up with Alltel.

[Gawain]

If that is true and at&t is getting these towers because verizon is a monopoly... the ones who says that is on crack because at&t is a huge monopoly in itself already. So I find that hard to believe.

Here we go:

When Verizon acquired ALLTEL, there were several (nearly 100) MSAs where Verizon and ALLTEL had significant overlap of networks.

One of the provisions the FCC placed to approve the merger was for VZW to divest these markets, it didn't necessarily matter if they were divesting native ALLTEL or VZW assets (as it happens, it's mostly ALLTEL assets, employees and customers being affected).

Many of these MSAs did not have a significant AT&T presence (there's a map in the VZW forum). If VZW had been allowed to keep those markets, then the anti-trust laws would be challenged.

AT&T was a natural choice, as Sprint doesn't have the money, and T-Mobile would have trouble with such an acquisition passing by the regulators because they're owned by a foreign firm.

This is the biggest chunk, but I'm fairly certain there are many more transactions to take place, and we may see smaller transactions involving Sprint, US Cellular and smaller regional carriers.

AT&T is nothing like the monopoly it was when it was "Ma Bell".

[fabuloso]

I posted this about, 4 days ago in the AT&T forum...lol.

[theanswer3]

ATT is also selling some of their towers to Verizon as well. THey are pretty much trading towers.

[phonegeek#AC]

A little background on things like this. It is about spectrum, it has almost nothing to do with towers, in most of these areas we (at&t) could give a rip about the towers. It is strictly about FCC licenses for spectrum.

Now what happens is that in most areas of the country there are two 850 mhz and two 1900 mhz licenses for an MSA/RSA (Metro Service Area/Rural Service Area). One carrier is not allowed to own both licenses of any one band. Verizon already owns an 850 mhz license for these areas (Alltel owned the other) so as a condition of the merger the FCC (and/or D.O.J.) required Verizon to divest one of the licenses for these markets.

Yes the towers go with it but what happens in most of these areas is that at&t already has a footprint there using 1900 mhz license. So the next steps are complicated analysis of each site, as at&t and Alltel are probably both on the same tower in many instances so we evaluate which one has the better position on the tower, the most ground space, site we already own vs an alltel lease, etc.

Once those decisions are made then comes the challenging part. Making that network GSM/UMTS. We won't keep CDMA, we won't try to operate a CDMA network. In at&t's view is is inferior technology and it is cheaper to throw it away and "upgrade" the sites and change peoples phones than to operate it as a CDMA network. How long will this take? I would say because you have to change peoples phones it will take a year from deal close before we shut down CDMA. We'll try and migrate people faster but there will be a few holdouts and the reality is that they will either change or their service will be discontinued.

Hope that helps to fill in a few gaps for folks....

PG

[Xpimp]

Here is the map