Verizon has finally been cleared to acquire regional carrier Alltel. The Department of Justice, FCC and FTC have all given the appropriate thumbs up to allow the mega carrier to acquire the regional carrier.
Verizon did not make it over the governmental hurdles unscathed. Verizon did have to relinquish a few region spectrum licenses among other concessions to obtain Alltel but largely the mega carrier will come out on top. The combined user base of Verizon and Alltel will top out around 80 million users; easily trumping AT&T"s 71 million subscribers.
Unfortunately at the end of the day it"s the consumer who looses out on this deal. While Alltel was not a national carrier it did provide stiff competition to Verizon in the markets where it competed. There is now nothing stopping the acquisition from happening but at least we told you so.