Its finally official

The final regulatory hurdle was cleared in Verizon Wireless' planned acquisition of Alltel on Wednesday, making the buyout a reality and officially creating the largest carrier in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department of Justice had already approved the deal, and a review by the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) antitrust regulators showed that they had no objections to the proposition.

Verizon Wireless will be paying $5.9 billion for Alltel, and has agreed to assume $22.2 billion of the company's debt. Surprisingly enough, even corporations like Verizon require loans as well - in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Verizon stated that it had secured commitments from eight financial organizations to provide $17 billion dollars for the purchase.