AT&T Gets Bigger

AT&T Inc. said Friday, May 8, it will buy the assets of Verizon Wireless for $2.35 billion, a deal that will affect 1.5 million subscribers.

Verizon Wireless was forced to sell the service areas, which are spread over 18 states, to satisfy regulatory conditions of its purchase of Alltel Corp for territories that overlap with Verizon's own coverage, and some Verizon territories and areas covered by Rural Cellular, another carrier Verizon bought last year.

Dallas-based AT&T, the country's largest telecommunications company, is getting spectrum licenses, cell towers, and 1.5 million subscribers. Since AT&T phones aren't compatible with Alltel or Verizon phones, these subscribers will need new phones to use AT&T's network. Ah, back to the good old days of reduced competition for phone companies. Caveat Emptor!

Committees

"Committee - A group of men who individually can do nothing, but as a group decide that nothing can be done." Fred Allen

"If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve its full potential, that word would be 'meetings'." Dave Barry

Names vs. Income

Not surprisingly, a study conducted in Sweden showed that African, Asian, or Slavic immigrants who changed their name to be more neutral or Swedish sounding increased their earnings the year after their name was changed. The researchers believe that employers (unconsciously or not) sort out names of job applicants, based on their past experiences and perception of stereotypes of nationalities. A year after name changes, earnings rose and average of 141%. Don't you ever wonder who pays for these studies and why? Maybe it is for the infinitely curious folks that read about them.