In a soon to be landmark day for Sprint, its full steam ahead as Sprint recieves all regulatory approvals required to tender their offer on IPCS. On November 23rd the Public Service Commission of West Virginia granted their blessing over the transaction following a joint petition filed by the two companies. November 24th brought about the approval of the FCC, and on November 10th the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period applicable to the transaction completed. The Hart-Scott-Rodino act is an ammendment to the Anti-Trust laws to the United States. The ammendment requires companies to file a notice with the FTC, and the Assistant Attorney general of the anit-trust division of the Department of Justice with the description of the transaction and all parties involved. This required waiting period on this act as it pertains to this transaction expired November 10th. All provisions of the previous tender offer will remain unchanged, and will be conducted by Ireland Aquisition Corporation, a wholly-owned susidiary of Sprint. The offer is set to expire Midnight tonight (11/25/2009). The existing offer will provide IPCS shareholders with $24 cash (less any required withholdings and taxes) for each share of IPCS stock. Boardmembers of IPCS have unanimously urged their shareholders to cash in their stock, and where nessesary adopt the merger agreement. Following a completion of the tender offer IPCS will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sprint Nextel. Completion is anticipated prior to the end of 2009.
Showing posts with label merger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label merger. Show all posts
Sprint Nextel has decided to double down thier bet on prepaid, and complete the purchase of Virgin Mobile for $483 Million. Shareholders of Virgin will end up owning 3% of Sprint as part of the deal. Virgin Mobile CEO Dan Schulmas was welcomed to the Sprint family in put in charge of Sprints prepaid business. Matt Carter will maintain control over the Boost Mobile brand, but will report to Schulman. The company will be working to maintain both brands in the face of the post paid subscriber loss they have been experiencing. Boost can't be helping in this area pulling subscribers with the lure of unlimited calling for $50 per month. Virgin Mobile has also been plauged with high churn rates. I have to say, I am a little suprised that Sprint was willing to purchase a failing MVNO with the same problems as their own post-paid business.
Unless Sprint has a card up their sleave, I see this being another in a long string of poor descisions made by Sprint.
Sprint plans to leverage their new size to tout better deals with vendors for handset selection. This purchase shows how liquid the company is in the face of having their credit rating cut just last week with the outlook not looking good. Moody's droped Sprints Credit rating last week siting growing concern over their loss of post-paid market share.
Verizon Wireless has plans to cut redundant positions that have come about as a result of the aquisition of Alltel. The finance, marketing, and legal departments are currently in their radar. There is not word on an exact number of positions to be cut. Verizon did include that the employees are welcome to apply for other jobs within the Little Rock facility. Verizon Wireless is not cutting these jobs because of poor corporate performance. Unfortuneately merging two companies into one eliminates the need for two legal departments, two finance departments, and two sets of marketing people.
So you are a used-to-be Alltel customer, and now you have been moved to Verizon. I know everyone is in an uproar right now wondering, "what does this mean for me?" The answer is simple. Verizon is allowing more options. Vicious rumors can be sent by the way-side, you are not being forced to do anything! You heard me correctly. Regardless of what your over-zealous cellular representative may have told you to pad their own pockets, you are not being required to change your equipment, or even your plan for that matter. Let's get into some specifics! Legacy Alltel customers will be allowed to keep their existing rate plans (unless you have been contacted by corporate Verizon via letter instructing you otherwise). Every area will be transitioning at different times, but as your area transitions, and you officially become a Verizon Wireless customer your selection of handsets will expand. Alltel will no longer provide your equipment choices. Verizon will provide a plethora of options to choose from, and at a reasonable price. Smart phone users rejoice! You will be able to add a Verizon smart phone to your existing Alltel plan with the aid of Verizon's $30 web and email for smart phone feature. (blackberry included). Now for some of you, the way Alltel used to price smart phones with the Smart Choice package may be the best option. You can still opt for this if you choose. Verizon is going to allow Verizon devices to function on Alltel plans. (some features such as VZ Navagator may not function properly unless on a Verizon plan) . You may even mix Alltel and Verizon devices on an Alltel plan if you like! You do need to be aware however, that Verizon bills data differently than Alltel. Alltel converts data usage to call time, and bills you per minute once you reach voice plan overage. Verizon bills you for the actual amount of data that you transfer. So if you are not subscribed to a Verizon data package and access the internet you will be billed at current per Mb usage rates. (Currently $1.99/Mb) Now their is going to be some restrictions. You WILL NOT be able to convert to a Verizon Wireless National rate plan of any kind until you have a Verizon branded handset for each of the lines on your account. However, each area is going to have some type of special assistance with this. I am not able to go into deeper details on this promotion, but it involves one line being eledgable for a discounted rate on a handset. Im sure your representative will be happy to assist you with this.
So armed with the proper knowledge you are ready continue on this journey of integration with a new company. I hope some of you are able to take comfort in knowing Verizon has chosen to merge these two companies the way they conducted business separately. For the good of the customers.
Verizon has started sending communications to their customers regarding their merger with Alltel, and the transitioning of their customers into the Verizon family. According to the notice, it seems the Midewest will transition October 17th, 2009. At that time Verizon will rename My Circle to Friends and Family. Currently no changes will be made to My Circle, however the numbers will be managed using Verizon's Online Account Management System : My Verizon.
Currently no changes to customer account are being made, and all features, plans, price-points, subscriptions downloads, and hardware functions of handsets will remain the same. Customer that make any changes to their account prior to October 17th will be allowed to remain on what is available, and I am being told by reliable sources that wish to remain unnamed that a standard set of Alltel's packages will still be available after the merger. My source would not delve into specifics regarding the availability of rate plans.
Begining October 17th customers will also be able to begin using handsets available on the other side of the company. Alltel plans will work with Verizon handsets, and vice-vera provided no data is being used. Voice and text will be the only functionality supported due to network restrictions. (This does not include Picure, video, or audio messages sent via multi-media messaging.) Customers wishing to maintain all data functionality on their account will need to purchase a data capable handset with the apropriate packages available for that branded device.
Starting October 5th Alltel customers that will become Verizon on the 17th will be covered by a new set of terms and conditions. (This does not mean you can cancel your contract without a fee! Sorry!)
The terms for post-paid contract subscribers can be found here. The new Terms for Prepaid subscribers are available here.
Please be advised that the changes mentioned above may change by market area. Some areas may transition in this fashion at the same time, some may be earlier, and some will be later. Please check with a representative in your area to find out more about the particulars in your specific market.
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