by Bruce Simmons (6/4/08, 7:05 pm pacific)Verizon Wireless is close to finalizing a $27 billion deal to to buy Alltel. This will effectively put Verizon up front as they would overtake AT&T as the top wireless provider. An announcement as soon as Thursday may hit the media if the details are worked out.
Once combines, they power house wireless company would then be able to boast more than 80 million customers. A wee bit more than the 71 million that AT&T has.
One other interesting tidbit is that both carriers use the same CDMA network so the transition would be seamless. It's the same network that Sprint uses, which has been struggling with customers losses.
OK, enough of the business news.
Here we go again.. with the advent of Verizon probably acquiring Alltel, what is Penske Racing going to have to go through once this takes place? NASCAR and Sprint already have a serious amount of experience dealing with this kind of wireless carrier transition but is was a long fight that was more than likely rather costly considering the delayed resolution that came of it, and all the on-track antics and legal injunctions.
Poor Ryan.. if he loses his sponsor, does Penske have a plan, or Sponsor B lined up?
I may be jumping the gun.. the deal still has to be finalized, but the business world seems to think it's dang near a done deal, as "sources" report. .. Ya gotta love sources.
Source: Forbes
Good job on bringing this to the forefront of the racing world, Bruce. Personally, I think that if something were to happen with Alltel/Verizon no longer being able to sponsor Newman, then Penske probably has the resources to get him another, thanks in large part to their extended reach in the racing world (outside of NASCAR).
ReplyDeleteThat said, I'm not sure I understand why Sprint would have any beef with Verizon as a sponsor and not Alltel? Or, for that matter, why they have a problem with AT&T sponsoring Burton, but they don't already take issue with Alltel sponsoring Newman?