VZW’s expansion worrying Alltel’s roaming partners

Verizon has tried to assuage those fears by stating that it will honor existing roaming agreements. In its own letter to the FCC last month, VZW promised that it would allow regional and rural operators to keep their current roaming contracts with Verizon and Alltel. In addition, if those operators had roaming agreements with both Alltel and Verizon, they could select the contract with the most favorable terms.

Leap, SpectrumCo, NTELOS, SouthernLinc Wireless and a host of others, however, don’t just want promises; they want assurances. Thus they are asking the FCC to eliminate the “home roaming” exception. What’s more, they want to require that data services be included in the roaming requirements. But Leap's petition seems to go beyond just ensuring their roaming agreements are protected. Leap wants the FCC to revisit spectrum caps, which it eliminated in 2003. If the FCC were to impose any kind of meaningful spectrum cap though, it would all but kill the VZW/Alltel deal.