Verizon Either Is, or Is Not, Close to Buying Sprint

[Ed Hardy]

Conflicting reportssay that Verizon Wireless is going to try to buy Sprint PCS, or that it isn't. At the same time, Sprint is reportedly trying to buy Nextel.

Read more at http://www.brighthand.com/article/Ve...print_in_Limbo

[imported_Oliver]

Verizon's plan to buy Sprint makes a certain amount of sense. They are the only two carriers in the U.S. to use the CDMA standard; all the rest use GSM/GPRS. Therefore a merger of their wireless networks would be a relatively simple task.

"All the rest"? Other than Cingular (now merged with AT&T Wireless) and T-Mobile, are there any other significant GSM players in the US? Seems to me the number of major, nationwide carriers is two each for the GSM and CDMA camps.

Oliver

[Athradon]

Verizon's plan to buy Sprint makes a certain amount of sense. They are the only two carriers in the U.S. to use the CDMA standard; all the rest use GSM/GPRS. Therefore a merger of their wireless networks would be a relatively simple task.

That is a very misleading and erroneous statement. Only 2 of the top 5 wireless carriers use GSM/GPRS, Cingular (combined with ATTWS now) and Tmobile. Verizon and Sprint use CDMA, and Nextel uses iDen. One of the largest regional carriers, Alltel, uses the same CDMA technology as Verizon/Sprint. Alltel has 12 million users, not too far behind Tmobile's 16.3, but they aren't included in most comparisons because they aren't national. Many people over on HowardForums consider Alltel the CDMA equivalent of Tmobile. The number of CDMA and GSM users is closer than this article would lead you to believe.

[Ed Hardy]

Sorry, I guess I haven't mentally changed gears yet. I'm still living in the days when the top 5 were Verizon and Sprint (CDMA) and Cingular, AT&T, and T-Mobile (GSM).