The better rumor regarding Verizon and their plans is on the wireless front. They will let Sprint merge with Nextel and then take Sprint Wireless. Sprint PCS is the only other major CDMA carrier. Nextel, using Motorola's iDEN, is actually fairly close in its operation to CDMA (a lot closer than to GSM or TDMA). The real piece the carriers want is Nextel and their "Direct Connect" or walkie-talkie feature.
Rodgers Platt
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Two questions for you Rodgers: One, which in your opinion is the bigger threat right now, Verizon or SBC (which of course is also Cingular Wireless)? My second question is, isn't the walkie-talkie feature of Nextel really just a fancy sort of speed dial which transmits over the speaker phone? If I had a Nextel 'walkie talkie' style phone and my friend in Chicago used his Nextel walkie-talkie phone to call me, it surely would not go over some airwaves would it? PAT]