Verizon Becoming A Player In Nextel/Sprint Merger

By Chris Richardson - Tue, 12/14/2004 - 3:37pm.

The potential merger between mobile phone companies Sprint and Nextel may have just hit a bump in the road.

In a move similar to the PeopleSoft/Oracle merger, apparently mobile service provider Verizon is attempting to grab a piece of this pie by making a secret takeover bid for Sprint PCS.

According to SprintPCSInfo, Verizon made a secret bid in order to facilitate a merger between the two companies. A statement from the page gives some insight into why Verizon is attempting this move, "Verizon, facing a double threat of a Nextel/Sprint merger and a New Cingular, received approval from Vodaphone (who owns a 45% share of Verizon Wireless) to attempt to merge with Sprint."

If the two companies did merge, the resulting company would have a customer base of 65 million people; 35 million more than the Sprint/Nextel merger would yield.

Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest search news.