US carrier AT&T will buy the assets of rival Verizon Wireless in 79 mainly rural areas for USD2.35bn in a deal that will affect more than 1m subscribers. Verizon is selling the service areas, which are spread over 18 US states, to satisfy the regulatory conditions of its purchase of Alltel. The areas are mainly Alltel regions that overlap with Verizon's own coverage, and include Verizon territories and areas covered by Rural Cellular, which Verizon bought last year.
AT&T will also gain spectrum licences, cell towers and 1.5m subscribers in the deal, which is expected to close in Q4. AT&T says it will take less than a year to convert the areas to its own network technology at a cost of about USD400m.
StrategyEye's related categories: ISPs - Wired, ISPs - WiMAX
StrategyEye's related companies: Verizon, Rural Cellular Corporation (Unicel), Alltel, AT&T
