A Bell-Ringer for the Phone Consolidation Game By James J. Cramer 8/14/01 6:21 PM ET

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Let the phone company consolidation games begin! This just in -- $9 billion Alltel (AT:NYSE - news - commentary) bid for CenturyTel (CTL:NYSE - news - commentary) is just huge because this sector has been dead, just dead and the shorts are betting against every one of these suckers.

You can bet that tomorrow the shorts will have to cover. Century, long a loved holding of Mario Gabelli and Capital Research, got clubbed along with the rest of the players when the competitive local exchange carriers got whacked at the beginning of the year. That happened even though CenturyTel has been around forever.

Not only that, but this is a cash for stock deal! That's terrific for the market, because unlike so many other deals in this sector, you can get the cold hard stuff if you want to.

Tomorrow this sector, everything from Qwest (Q:NYSE - news - commentary) to Broadwing (BRW:NYSE - news - commentary), will be jumping, as people realize that takeovers have not vanished from what used to be the chief propellant of the group.

Wow. A $9 billion dollar August shot in the arm for the most beleaguered sector in the universe. Big news indeed!!

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