The recent AT&T-Verizon $2.35-billion-cash deal will result in AT&T's acquisition of Verizon's wireless assets in 79 rural territories of Colorado and 17 other states. As a result, nearly 1.5 million Verizon subscribers will now need new phones to be shifted to the network of AT&T - the country's biggest telecommunications company.

The mentioned service territories were sold by Verizon Wireless in order to meet the regulatory stipulations of its Alltel Corp takeover; and the Dallas-based AT&T emerged the predictable winner of the auction for Verizon's assets.

While most of the areas relinquished by Verizon are essentially Alltel territories overlapping Verizon's coverage, some of the territories also fall in the coverage area of Rural Cellular, the carrier Verizon acquired last year.

With AT&T expecting the deal to close in this year's fourth quarter, the company will take less than a year to transfer the acquired areas to its own network technology - a move that would require an investment of nearly $400 million.

The deal will affect 31 counties in Colorado, and some territories in each of the 17 other states - Alabama, Arizona, California, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.

AT&T has offered Verizon a $240-million sale of its five Centennial Communications Corp. service areas in Louisiana and Mississippi.