Verizon Buys Alltel; Noone Buys Sprint

Verizon just officially bought Alltel...No one still has bought Sprint.

Not going to get into the major specifics here, however they will now be the largest carrier nationwide (for circa $27 billion mind you).

It will be interesting to see how this works out. Not that there are any major issues such as a GSM carrier buying a CDMA carrier, however a few questions will still be out there:

• Will Verizon merge Alltel into their company completely? More than likely.
• When they do merge, will they avoid the catastrophies of billing migration? (Yes Sprint, we are referring to you).
• Will Verizon lock down Alltel GPS on their phones as they are now?
• Will Alltels rate plans change/go bye bye?
  Thoughts?

PETITION TO SQUASH EXCLUSIVE CARRIER DEALS IN THE WORKS

This is a hot topic and I am curious what the BlackBerry community (heck really all cell phone communities think about this.

How do you like it when a new phone, for instance the BOLD, comes exclusively only to AT&T? Or Sprint's exclusive deal with Samsung to carry the Ace? Does that hurt little carriers?

Apparently, they think so. The RAC (Rural Carriers Association) has called upon the FCC to investigate what is termed "anti competitive effects" of these exclusive deals. The RAC represents over 80 smaller wireless carriers.

"We want the FCC to consider rule making on this issue so that people can comment and contribute to the process as these arrangements are increasing with more frequency," David Nace, RAC counsel, told InternetNews.com. It is true that these deals do seem to be occurring more and more. The groups filings included over 50 exclusive deals including the ones mentioned above.

AT&T feels just the opposite. "These deals drive innovation and spur manufactures to improve products and gives users more choices," Mark Siegel, AT&T spokesperson, told InternetNews.com. "Without these deals carriers would have little imperative to innovate," Siegel said, adding that such deals drive strong competition in the marketplace that benefits users in terms of pricing and plans.

What do you guys think?