If
the AT&T-Verizon takeover of Vodafone actually goes through, it might represent an earthquake in mobile roaming.
AT&T’s (
T) acquisition of Vodafone’s portfolio of carriers would mean that it would be able to offer American customers new roaming prices not only to major European tourist and business travel targets like the U.K., Germany and Italy, but also popular international destinations like Australia, Turkey, South Africa and Egypt. The old Vodafone-
Verizon (
VZ) alliance always had a major stumbling block that prevented effective roaming: The lack of a wide range of mobile phones that would have supported the different W-CDMA and CDMA2000 technologies the two carriers employed.
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