TMCnet News
FCC Consents to ALLTEL/Western Wireless MergerThe FCC consented to ALLTEL Corporation’s proposed $6 billion merger with Western Wireless Corporation. By TED GLANZER TMCnet Communications and Broadband Columnist The FCC today consented to ALLTEL Corporation’s proposed $6 billion merger with Western Wireless Corporation, subject to certain conditions. According to the terms of the merger, ALLTEL will gain about 1.4 million domestic wireless customers in 19 states, giving the company a total of approximately 10 million domestic wireless customers in 33 states. The merger makes ALLTEL the fifth-largest wireless carrier. A deal was reached between ALLTEL and the Department of Justice July 6. The only major hurdle left for the merger is approvals from both companies shareholders. “With respect to ALLTEL’s acquisition of WWC’s licenses, the Commission analyzed the market for mobile telephony services and concluded that the companies had demonstrated that the proposed merger will serve the public interest, convenience and necessity,” the FCC stated in a press release. The FCC concluded that “anti-competitive effects are unlikely in all but 16 of the FCC’s 734 Cellular Market Areas (CMAs), where the merger would cause significant competitive harm that exceeds the likely public interest benefits of the merger in those areas.” Accordingly, the FCC conditioned its consent on the companies divesting WWC business units – customers, infrastructure, and cellular spectrum – in 16 CMAs located in Arkansas, Kansas and Nebrasksa. Also, the FCC imposed a condition specifying that ALLTEL may not prevent its subscribers from reaching another carrier and completing calls via manual roaming, unless specifically requested to do so by a subscriber. The proposed merger was announced last January, and was hailed at the time by both companies as serving the best interests of customers, shareholders and employees. “The combination of Western Wireless with ALLTEL creates a rural operator using multiple technologies with the largest footprint in the company,” John W. Stanton, chairman and CEO of Western Wireless, said in a statement in January. ----- Ted Glanzer is assistant editor for TMCnet. For more articles by Ted Glanzer, please visit: http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/columnists/columnist.aspx?id=100033&nm=Ted%20Gl anzer |