Alltel

Who Will Buy Verizon's Alltel Leftovers?
Verizon Wireless is still required to sell off 26 markets as part of its Alltel acquisition agreement with the government, even after AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) unveiled a $2.35 billion deal to buy most of those assets on Monday. (See AT&T Buys Some Verizon-Alltel Assets.)

"Only 79 of the 105 markets Verizon Wireless is required to divest are included in the agreement with AT&T," a Verizon spokesperson told Unstrung Tuesday. "We are actively working to sell the remaining 26 markets."...



Verizon profit tops estimates on Web-phone plan usage
Verizon Communications Inc., the second-largest U.S. phone company, posted profit that topped analysts' estimates as customers spent more on services such as text messaging.
First-quarter earnings amounted to 63 cents a share, excluding costs such as acquisition expenses. That beat the 59-cent average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue from services such as Web surfing advanced 56 percent.

Sales rose 12 percent to $26.6 billion, bolstered by the purchase of Alltel Corp. Nevertheless, the average monthly bill declined from a year ago once Alltel's results were included. Verizon also said business customers spent less after firing workers and delaying decisions on new purchases, bringing global enterprise revenue down 3.4 percent.

"Things in the wireline business continue to go from bad to worse," Craig Moffett said in a note to investors Monday. "Enterprise continues to tick downward."...



Frontier to have regional office in Charleston
Frontier Communications Co. plans to make Verizon's office tower on MacCorkle Avenue a regional office, a Frontier executive said.

Mike Swatts, Frontier's West Virginia general manager, said, "We have a 250,000-square-foot facility in Charleston. That's a great building and we certainly want to utilize it to the fullest extent. That building will be fully utilized."

Verizon announced Wednesday that it will sell its wireline business in West Virginia and 13 other states to Frontier for about $8.6 billion.

Swatts said Frontier is not new to mergers and acquisitions. The company entered West Virginia by acquiring properties formerly owned by GTE, Contel and Alltel. In addition, the company -- formerly named Citizens Communications Co.-- went through a merger with Frontier.

"So we've been through a number of mergers and acquisitions over the past 15 years," Swatts said. "I think we've followed through with everything we indicated. We made the systems work, upgraded our services, and brought on new services. I think we have an excellent track record. We've been tried and tested."

The deal with Verizon is the first time Frontier will be tripling in size. However, "we've taken on some big acquisitions like one in Pennsylvania that was several hundred thousand access lines," Swatts said. "The process is the same to get systems converted. It's a pretty standard function."

Frontier spokesman Steve Crosby said the plan is for the Verizon properties to be spun off as a stand-alone entity. Unlike other mergers and acquisitions, "there's not a gun to our head to have everything integrated by a certain date," he said. "We have the flexibility to be very deliberative, to do this in a way that is a very positive experience for customers."


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