Alltel Corporation (NYSE:AT) is reportedly seeking a buyer but may experience some difficulty, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ reported that Alltel had already approached AT&T, Verizon Communications, and Sprint-Nextel regarding a possible sale of the company. However, a potential deal-breaker lies in the company's high market valuation, which currently stands at around $22 billion. Some analysts think this number could get as high as $30 billion in the event of a buyout, which could be too much for any one buyer to pay. If the buyout efforts fail, many investors believe that the company's shares could trend towards a lower valuation.

What makes Alltel a potential buyout target? While the company only has about a fifth of the customers of AT&T and Verizon, they do operate the nation's largest wireless network geographically. As a result, the company has many "roaming" agreements that allow customers from larger carriers to roam beyond their coverage areas without incurring large roaming fees. As a result, if AT&T decides to pursue an Alltel deal it could spur a competition with Verizon, who would likely seek to prevent a deal. Why? Well, if AT&T purchased Alltel it would jeopardize the roaming agreements that Verizon has in place. This makes AT a stock worth keeping an eye on over the next couple of months.

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