Merger Maddness

The Wall St. Journal is reporting that Verizon Wireless is considering buying out Sprint PCS now (Vzw and Sprint are the #2 and #3 wireless companies, after ATT/Cingular - and they both use the same CDMA service, whereas Cingular/ATT/T-Mobile use GPS).

It will be interesting to go through the FTC's merger guidelines on this one. Apparently in some rural areas Verizon and Sprint are the only games in town - so I think some of the Sprint service will have to be spun off in those markets. But frankly - I think this one will be good for consumers. Prices for cellular services are affected by competition to be sure - but a big element is the free cellular to cellular calling, which really benefits from the network effect here. The more in-network calling options there are (ie... Verizon customers can now call Sprint customers for free) the less consumers pay.

I also personally stand to gain, I think, as a Verizon customer - because Sprint has the Treo 650 - and I want that phone. Sprint also has better pricing for unlimited data ($15 a month) - hopefully both will come along with the merger.