MVNO Spotlight: Verizon

Bell Atlantic changed its name to Verizon Communications in June 2000, when the Federal Communications Commission approved the US$64.7 billion merger with telephone company GTE, nearly two years after the deal was proposed in July 1998. The approval came with 25 stipulations to preserve competition between local phone carriers, including investing in new markets and broadband technologies. The new entity was headed by co-CEOs Charles Lee, former CEO of GTE, and Bell Atlantic CEO Ivan Seidenberg.

Verizon became the largest local telephone company in the United States, operating 63 million telephone lines in 40 states. The company also inherited 25 million mobile phone customers. Additionally, Verizon offered internet services and long-distance calling in New York, before expanding long-distance operations to other states.

During its first operational year, Verizon Wireless released Mobile Web, an Internet service that allowed customers to access partner sites such as E*Trade, ABC News, ESPN, Amazon.com, Ticketmaster, and MSN, as well as the "New Every Two" program, which gave customers a free phone with every two-year service contract (this program was shut down in 2011). In another partnership with MSN in 2002, Verizon Wireless launched the mobile content service VZW with MSN and a phone that utilized the Microsoft Windows operating system.

Verizon launched 3G service in 2002, which doubled the Internet speed of the time to 144kb per second. In August 2002, Verizon began offering local, long-distance and mobile calling, as well as Internet service, in a bundle. It was initially only available to customers in New York and Massachusetts.

In 2004, Verizon launched its Fios Internet service, which transmits data over fiber optic cables, in Keller, Texas. The company launched Fios TV in September 2005, also in Keller. Twenty percent of qualified homes had signed up by the end of 2004. By January 2006, Fios offered over 350 channels in eight states, including 20 high-definition television channels and video on demand.

In December 2010, Verizon introduced its 4G LTE network in 38 markets, as well as airports in seven additional cities. The company planned on a three-year continuous expansion of the 4G service.

Verizon MVNO’s typically buy talk, text, and data in bulk from Verizon Wireless. By doing so, each MVNO is able to purchase service at a big discount. Each Verizon MVNO then resells the talk, text and data back to the consumer with a small price markup making it profitable for the company. Even with the markup, the service is generally resold at a significantly cheaper rate compared to what Verizon would sell the same service to the consumer for.

Customer support can be hit or miss with Verizon MVNO’s. Some MVNO’s cut costs by offering either offshore customer support, a limited support staff, or limited support hours. Others may provide a customer support experience that some may find superior to that of Verizon’s.

Network: Verizon

Pros:

· Best nationwide coverage

· Variety of plans and phones

· Great streaming perks

· Mix and match family plans

· Nice international features

· High-speed hotspot data

Cons

· Fairly expensive plans

· Data speeds

· Limited to no roaming capability

· Network prioritization

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