Verizon to compromise some handsets to small Wireless Providers

Verizon Wireless today, under pressure from the government, announced it would allow small wireless companies to some of the cell phones that it offers on exclusive deals of handsets after six months. Starting today, after Verizon spends six months in an exclusive deal on any handset with vendors, small wireless providers that have fewer than 500,000 customers will be allowed to sell the phones, said in a letter sent to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the letter published at Wall Street Journal’s Blog. Such a provision would allow greater competition and customer flexibility including better deals for shopaholics that would crave for any typical phone deals, analyst predict.

In a letter to Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam called -

Last February, a group of 24 small wireless providers asked Verizon Wireless to eliminate long-term exclusive handset agreements with LG and Samsung. We agreed to do so for those small providers. Today I am writing to reaffirm that commitment and to let you know that Verizon Wireless is taking an even bolder step to transform exclusive handset arrangements. Effective immediately for small wireless carriers (those with 500,000 customers or less), any new exclusivity arrangement we enter with handset makers will last no longer than six months – for all manufacturers and all devices.

Cellco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, owns and operates the largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, based on a total of 87.6 million U.S. subscribers. Verizon Wireless has the largest revenue of all United States wireless companies reporting $43.9 billion in 2007. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, the company is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group, with 55 and 45 percent ownership respectively. On January 9, 2009, Verizon Wireless acquired Alltel Wireless in a deal valued at $28.1 billion. The acquisition expanded Verizon's wireless network to establish Verizon as the largest United States wireless carrier, based on number of subscribers.

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