Dialed in: AT&T announced this morning that it has reached a deal to buy the Alltel U.S. wireless operations for about $780 million to boost its spectrum in rural areas. The Dallas-based telecommunications company is buying the licenses, retail stores and network assets, along with about 585,000 subscriptions, from Beverly, Mass.-based Atlantic Tele-Network Inc. Alltel’s network covers about 4.6 million people in mainly rural areas across six states—Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina. More details can be found here.
Feeling good: International investors are more bullish on stocks than they’ve been in at least 3.5 years, with close to two-thirds planning to raise their holdings of equities during the next six months, according to the new Bloomberg Global Poll. Fifty-three percent of respondents to the poll also say equities will offer the highest return in the next year. More survey results can be found in the full story here.
Long-distance operator: There’s a report emerging from Asian newspapers including The Commercial Times of Taiwan and the China Times that Apple is working on three new iPhone models, two of which will be out by June. Business Insider cautions readers to “treat this one lightly for now,” but notes “a lot of accurate information has come from Asian supply chain sources in the last few years.” Read the full story here.
