Verizon looking to buy Alltel, again?

The deal, which could be valued at around $27 billion, is at a sensitive stage and could fall through over the next few days, the newspaper reported.
Alltel was sold only last year for $27.5 billion to the buyout arm of Goldman Sachs and private equity firm TPG Capital. And, according to the Journal, the banks that financed the deal, including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Barclays, and Royal Bank of Scotland Group, still owe about $24 billion in loans and bond financing. But the firms see a sale to Verizon as a way to cut their losses on the financing. The article said a person familiar with the deal said the banks would get a nominal return on their investment.
A takeover of Alltel by Verizon Wireless would create the largest cell phone operator in the country with some 80 million subscribers. AT&T, which is currently the nation's largest cell phone provider, reported at the end of last quarter that it has 71.4 million customers. Verizon Wireless, jointly owned by Verizon Communications and U.K.-based Vodafone Group, would gain customers mainly in the Midwest and South where Alltel operates.
A merged company of this size would no doubt be scrutinized by regulators in the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission. And it's likely that Verizon would have to divest some of its assets in markets where the companies overlap. As for any other potential buyers, Sprint Nextel, the other CDMA carrier in the U.S., is in no position to make a big acquisition like this one. The company has seen its subscribers and profits plummet since the failed merger with Nextel in 2005. In fact, some analysts speculate that Sprint Nextel is also on the auction block. The company has already spun off its WiMax division to combine it with Clearwire's network assets. And rumors have floated around that German-based Deutsche Telekom has been eying it, although this seems highly unlikely.
T-Mobile and AT&T are unlikely bidders for the company since they use a different technology called GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications).
Verizon Wireless was among the companies that considered buying Alltel last year when the company first started shopping itself around. And rumors had circulated back in 2005 that Verizon was interested in purchasing the regional cell phone operator. Both times the company didn't make its move.