Verizon To Bid For Sprint, Says WSJ

[Kris Kumar]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.mobiletracker.net/archives/2004/12/14/verizon_to_bid_.php' target='_blank'>http://www.mobiletracker.net/archives/2004/12/14/verizon_to_bid_.php</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Verizon Communications has gained the backing of its wireless partner, Vodafone Group, for a potential bid for Sprint, clearing a major hurdle to such a deal, according to people familiar with the situation...Verizon Communications officials, who have been meeting to discuss a possible takeover of Sprint in recent days and have studied the pros and cons of such a deal for 18 months, also think that regulatory and tax issues linked to the acquisition could be overcome. However, it remains unclear whether Verizon will make such a bid...Some issues remain for a Verizon-Sprint deal. Sprint would bring lots of land lines to Verizon at a time when the company is trying to reduce its exposure to its traditional telephone business. Those lines would lose value when owned by Verizon in lieu of Sprint because they would be subject to more regulation under a Verizon banner than under Sprint control."</i><br /><br />Wall Street Journal is reporting another <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110298004512599036,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us">scoop</a> [Paid Subscription Required]. According to the WSJ, Verizon <i>can</i> make a bid for Sprint in the coming days. Such an offer will definitely upset the Sprint - Nextel merger talks that are going on right now. Verizon and Sprint both operate on CDMA, so from technology point of view it will be an easy merger and both will benefit immediately, especially when it comes to expanding the high speed wireless data networks. Also the combined carrier would become the number one carrier in the US with around 65 million customers. 8O Personally I do not prefer this alliance, because it will eliminate the competition in the CDMA market. What are your thoughts? Will it benefit the customers and the industry?

[Perry Reed]

I agree that the loss of competition in the CDMA world could be bad, but on the other hand, there still would be plenty of mobile provider competition and perhaps the larger base of CDMA users with one provider would spur more handset manufacturers to build CDMA devices. At least that would be my hope, as a Sprint customer who is jealous of all the GSM users who get the best gadgets.

[Kris Kumar]

Let's take an example: Verizon does not like Bluetooth, having the monopoly on the CDMA market is the US will give them more powers to convince the manufacturers to do their bidding. :-(

Sprint merging with Nextel will create a formidable competition. And I like Sprint; they do like to adopt new tech/concepts.

[Kris Kumar]

WSJ has some update on the story. Looks like Vodafone has denied that it had discussion with Verizon. 8O

Vodafone Denies Discussions With US Partner Over Sprint (http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20041214_005088,00.html)
"Mobile phone operator Vodafone PLC (VOD.LN) Tuesday denied it is in discussions with its U.S. partner Verizon Communications (VZ) over a possible bid for U.S. rival Sprint (FON). "We are not in any discussions with Verizon ," a spokesman for Vodafone said in connection to the rumors that the two may be considering a bid for Sprint"

The article ends with the following statement.
"People familiar with the matter say Verizon Communications is considering a bid for Sprint."

[Skitals]

I dont think most consumers care, or even know, about gsm v. cmda networks. I think Cingular and other GSM networks are just as big of competition as Sprint. Sprint adopting new tech and phones is no more influential on verizon then t-mobile or cingular carrying cutting edge phones or technology. The end product is roughly the same to the consumer, no matter what kind of network it is.

If it could mean a better coverage network for both sprint and verizon users, im all for it.