Transition to Verizon puts some Alltel customers in flux

Alltel wireless customers in many rural areas in South Carolina and Georgia will sit in limbo until a buyer is found for their territory. Verizon Wireless completed its $5.9 billion acquisition of rival Alltel on Friday, but through an agreement with the federal government Verizon did not acquire all of the overlapping areas. About 2 million of Alltel's 12 million customers will not automatically switch to Verizon Wireless. As a condition of the merger approval, the Federal Communications Commission told Verizon that it had to sell off 105 of its overlapping network areas, including Burke County in Georgia, and Edgefield, Barnwell, Bamberg and Orangeburg counties in South Carolina. "If they are interested in becoming a Verizon customer, then it is a normal process. They would have to port their number. They would have to come into one of our locations. It is just as though they were with another carrier," said Verizon spokeswoman Caran Smith. But they are still beholden to their Alltel service contract and would pay the penalties for breaking it in order to find another wireless service, Ms. Smith said.