cell phone carrier

It's tough enough for David to take on Goliath.

Now imagine Goliath countering David's slingshot with a cannon.

That's roughly the challenge facing Alltel, the No.5 cell phone carrier, as it battles its two largest national competitors, AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

In a recent federal auction of wireless airwaves, AT&T and Verizon combined for $16 billion of the record $19.6 billion in winning bids as they stockpiled more spectrum to improve coverage and turbocharge their broadband services.