Verizon’s LTE network will be available in 38 cities by the end of the year. Chief Executive Ivan Seidenberg said in an interview with the WSJ that pricing by speed would be made possible by the carrier’s migration to LTE.
“If you want to pay for less speed, you’ll pay for less speed and consume more, or you can pay for high speed and consume less,” said Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo Wednesday.
He says Verizon’s technology can deliver between one and 12 megabits per second, which allows for a tiered pricing structure similar to home wired Internet service.
The company, as a holiday promotion, is testing out a lower-end $15 monthly data plan with a capped amount of data. Seidenberg wouldn’t say that it would spell the end of unlimited data plans.
“I don’t think the world’s that simple,” he said. “We need to get into it, figure out what the customer thinks is fair, and go from there.”
He expects the number of data users to jump to about 75% of Verizon’s contract customers over the next three to four years from 23% today, regardless of the device. “People are buying more connected devices,” he said.
Verizon would like to see less competition, not more (FCC filing), says DSL Reports. Now is a politically good time, with more Republican Congress coming in. With CDMA carriers like Verizon moving to LTE, a merger with T-Mobile, Sprint, or AT&T would not be out of the question. But who would be the best spectrum partner?
Verizon implied that wireless prices were high due to spectrum scarcity. It got what it wanted from the FCC. Now keeping competitors like satellite providers, cable operators, or internet companies out of the 300-500 Mhz of new spectrum that’s opening up may be a priority for Verizon in Congress next year.
Verizon’s CEO Ivan Seidenberg now says there’s plenty of spectrum after all. He thinks the FCC should butt out and let big business manage spectrum.
New competitors include satellite providers like Lightsquared, TerreStar and ICO (now DBSD). They can reuse satellite phone spectrum terrestrially, creating new national 4G networks. Lightsquared hasn’t announced any major cellular partners (yet). If T-Mobile struck a deal with Clearwire for 2.6 GHz LTE spectrum, then it may not partner with LightSquared (and visa-versa).
Tim Farrar’s TMF Associates explains the tactics that might be used with Lightsquared’s 1.6 GHz and TerreStar’s 2 GHz spectrum for new terrestrial 4G service:
T-Mobile might even be waiting to see if the 2GHz MSS spectrum could present another possible alternative, once the TerreStar and DBSD bankruptcies are resolved, given that this spectrum is closer to its existing PCS and AWS holdings than either the LightSquared L-band spectrum or the Clearwire 2.5GHz spectrum, and could even be available without ATC restrictions (via an incentive auction) in a couple of years’ time.
Qualcomm is reportedly in talks with AT&T over Flo TV spectrum. Qualcomm suspended sales of Flo TV, and has said it is considering a range of potential options for the 6 Mhz it own in the 716-722 MHz spectrum, previously allocated to UHF TV channel 55.
But Clearwire owns the most spectrum. They have some 120 MHz (at 2.6 GHz), compared to some 10-20 Mhz available for satellite ATC or AWS.
Verizon’s mission, should they decide to accept it, is to take Clearwire’s spectrum out of play, keep margins high, and maintain stockholder value.
Related Dailywireless articles include; Phoney Spectrum Scarcity, Lightsquared Skyterra-1 is Launched, US Wireless Business: Good Margins, Clearwire to Test LTE, Cheat Sheet for Cellco Financials, WiMAX in More Cities, LTE Plans Leaked, Sprint Nextel: LTE/WiMAX Double Header?, Denmark Getting LTE, AT&T Data Caps Extend to Femtocells, AT&T’s New Data Plans, T-Mobile: Now HSPA+ Coverage for 75M, Public Safety: Show Us The Money, Clear: No Limits, FCC to Okay $2.3B AT&T Deal, Cellcos: One Thing – Bandwidth, T-Mobile Eyeing Clear Spectrum, FCC Considers Auctioning Off TV Frequencies, FCC Okays Terrestrial LTE for SkyTerra, Battle of the Bands Goes to Congress, FCC “Finds” 500MHz?.
