Posts Tagged ‘Verizon’
FCC lays down net neutrality rules, wireless providers exempt from some
The Federal Communications Commission voted today to lay down a number of basic rules that ban Internet service providers from blocking specific content and help keep the web open.
The new rules keep ISPs from blocking specific websites and other content. The rules also allow ISPs to throttle web connections if they believe their customers are using too much bandwidth, but require the ISPs to be “reasonable” when doing so. Internet providers also have to have a greater level of transparency.
But wireless telecommunications companies were exempt from the packet discrimination rules — which is a bit of a head scratcher. Mobile web use is growing rapidly and some actually rely on wireless networks for their Internet usage through mobile hot-spot devices. Without those rules in place, wireless companies are free to stop some smartphone users from taking advantage of their data plans by throttling download and upload speeds.
Both Google and Verizon agreed that wireless web access requires a different set of tools and technology. The chief executives for both companies said , a suggestion . Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that both companies had been in discussions for over a year, and that they already had discussions with the FCC.
Government officials have been arguing about net neutrality for some time now. The idea first came up when the FCC ordered Comcast to halt plans to slow Internet traffic for peer-to-peer file sharers. A federal appeals court said that the FCC had overstepped its authority. The vote happened right down party lines, with both Republicans on the committee voting against the new net neutrality rules.
Back when President Barack Obama was campaigning for office, he made net neutrality a big part of his tech policy platform. But as wireless Internet use continues to grow, it’s unclear whether the FCC will step in and begin regulating that space and lay out a new set of net neutrality rules for wireless providers.
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Why Verizon needs the iPhone to stay in the lead
Common wisdom is that Verizon Wireless is kicking butt and taking names with its Android phones, but recent sales data reveals that even a myriad of successful high-end Android phones isn’t enough to take on AT&T’s success with the iPhone.
Unless Verizon lands Apple’s iPhone soon, it could potentially lose its leading carrier status to AT&T.
The sales data comes from a report by analyst Matthew Goodman and is based on point-of-sale data from thousands of wireless retailers across the country. It — which went from over 90 percent of Verizon’s smartphones sales last year, to less than 20 percent last month. The reason, of course, was the rise in popularity of Android phones late last year. Android now accounts for over 80 percent of smartphone sales on the carrier.
But all is not rosy for Verizon. Horace Dediu from the industry analysis blog Asymco to show that Verizon is still losing out to the iPhone on AT&T (assuming ITG’s data is accurate). He concludes that the massive rise in iPhone sales following the release of the iPhone 4 (AT&T jumped from 2.7 million iPhones sold in the first quarter, to 5.7 million in the third) has stolen Verizon’s smartphone growth. In the same time period, Verizon went from 2.7 million smartphones sold (including Android, WebOS, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile) to 3.3 million.
That alone shows the power of the iPhone — Android, combined with other platforms, clearly isn’t enough for Verizon to keep up with AT&T in sales. Dediu also argues that Verizon is “growing its smartphone base slower than the overall market”, and that an over-reliance on Android may harm Verizon.
Verizon currently has over 92.1 million subscribers, compared to AT&T’s 90.1 million. Given the iPhone’s explosive growth compared to Android, Verizon’s dominance in the cellular arena is in danger of fading away if sales trends continue along the same lines.
The big conclusion? Verizon needs the iPhone, and it needs it soon.
Recent reports have all but confirmed that , so it will be interesting to see how Verizon’s sales shift once it comes over. We can expect other platforms on Verizon to lose some ground, and AT&T to lose a significant number of new iPhone subscribers, once the iPhone hits Verizon.
Credit Suisse predicted in September that if it gets the iPhone in 2011. Dediu takes things even further — he predicts that Verizon will land between 8 and 12 million new subscribers if it gets the iPhone.
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Verizon’s LTE 4G network lands Dec. 5, serving 110M users in 38 markets
will launch this Sunday, December 5, in 38 markets (serving 110 million people), the company revealed in a conference call today. Launch markets include major cities like New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
Both AT&T and Verizon are betting on LTE, or Long Term Evolution, technology for their 4G networks. WiMax, which Sprint is currently relying on, is the competing 4G network standard.
Unfortunately, there won’t be any LTE-compatible phones coming this year. At launch, Verizon will offer two 4G USB modems from LG and Pantech that will each cost $99.99 after a $50 rebate.
Consumers will be able to choose from two LTE data plans: $50 for 5 gigabytes of data, and $80 for 10 gigabytes (overage charges for both are $10 per gigabyte). The company says more LTE modems will be released in the next few weeks. All of the modems support its existing 3G network.
The company says its LTE network will offer a ten-fold improvement over its 3G network, with download speeds from 5 to 12 megabits per second and upload speeds from 2 to 5Mbps. The 4G network will offer half the latency of Verizon’s 3G network, with speeds comparable to wired broadband networks, according to Verizon Wireless CTO Tony Melone. Verizon plans to roll out its LTE network nationwide by the end of 2013.
Verizon will also equip over 60 airports across the country with LTE — some inside of its 38 LTE markets, and some outside to serve road warriors.
At the moment, Verizon is treating LTE and 3G access completely separately — meaning you’ll have to pay more for LTE access once LTE phones are available. Come late 2012/early 2013, the company may try to unify its plan structure to include both LTE 4G and 3G. Verizon also says that it will start to transmit voice communications over LTE data (instead of a separate voice network) around that time as well.
The company will talk about more LTE-compatible devices at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. It expects to launch those devices sometime mid-2011.
Verizon may not be the first carrier to offer a 4G network (T-Mobile is calling its HSPA+ network 4G, and Sprint’s WiMax 4G network has been live for some time), but it definitely seems to be the most methodical. AT&T hasn’t fully laid out its 4G plans yet, but we know that it’s upgrading its 3G network over the next few years as a stopgap solution until its 4G LTE network is available.
Verizon, meanwhile, is relying on its swath of contiguous 700 megahertz wireless spectrum to push out its 4G network as quickly as possible. That spectrum means Verizon has the potential to cover more of the country in 4G than any other carrier. It will be interesting to see how AT&T, which only has access to 700 MHz spectrum in certain areas, responds.
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Nokia gets a public image facelift, appoints Jerri DeVard as chief marketing officer
Nokia that it’s appointing marketing veteran Jerri DeVard as its new chief marketing officer and executive vice president.
DeVard has worked in marketing for over 25 years. She served as senior vice president of marketing for Verizon from 2003 to 2007 and then started her own firm in New York, the DeVard Marketing Group, where she served clients like Microsoft. That connection probably made her a desirable choice as CMO with Nokia’s , who previously served as the head of Microsoft’s business division. DeVard also served as Chief Marketing Officer for Citigroup’s e-commerce business.
Her new role will take effect on January 1, 2011, and she will report to Niklas Savander, EVP and head of Nokia’s Markets unit. DeVard will spearhead Nokia’s new Marketing and Communications organization, which will bring together its marketing, brand management and communications efforts.
There’s honestly no mobile company I can think of right now that needs as much help with brand management in the US, so DeVard will certainly have her work cut out for her. While Nokia still sells more devices worldwide than any other company and is still very successful in Europe and emerging markets, its track record in the US has been abysmal for some time. For reasons why, just check out my .
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Nokia gets a public image facelift, appoints Jerri DeVard as chief marketing officer
Nokia that it’s appointing marketing veteran Jerri DeVard as its new Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President.
DeVard has worked in marketing for over 25 years. She served as Verizon Senior Vice President for Marketing from 2003 to 2007 and then started her own firm in New York, the DeVard Marketing Group, where she served clients like Microsoft. That connection probably made her a desirable choice as CMO by Nokia’s , who previously served as the head of Microsoft’s business division. DeVard also served as Chief Marketing Officer for Citigroup’s e-commerce business.
Her new role will take effect on January 1, 2011, and she will report to Niklas Savander, EVP and head of Nokia’s Market’s unit. DeVard will spearhead Nokia’s new Marketing and Communications organization, which will bring together its marketing, brand management and communications efforts.
There’s honestly no mobile company I can think of right now that needs as much help with brand management in the US, so DeVard will certainly have her work cut out for her. While Nokia still sells more devices worldwide than any other company, and it’s still very successful in Europe and emerging markets, its track record in the US has been abysmal for some time. For reasons why, just check out my .
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Verizon pushes for rewrite of “antiquated and anti-competitive” US telecom law
Tell us what you really think, Verizon. The company yesterday titled “Congress Needs to Update the Nation’s Antiquated and Anti-Competitive Telecom Rules” — which, as you can guess, isn’t exactly a love letter to the FCC.
Verizon executive vice president of public affairs Tom Tauke is quoted as saying in the release: “The grinding you hear are the gears churning as policymakers try to fit fast-changing technologies and competitive markets into regulatory boxes built for analog technologies and monopoly markets.”
The company’s frustration isn’t unwarranted. The FCC is still fighting for authority when it comes to regulating the internet, mainly because current telecom rules aren’t suited to the issues we’re facing today like net neutrality. The agency tried to in a “third way” that gave it more authority earlier this year — after a US court on providers.
Verizon’s position now is even more extreme than its stance earlier this year, when together with Google. The company is now proposing four components that it feels are necessary for a new policy to guide the internet: It should be a federal framework; allow for case-by-case rulings; government intervention should be allowed only to protect consumers from harm or to stop anti-competitive activity; and perhaps most importantly, a single federal agency should be given clear jurisdiction.
As Engadget points out, of the Telecommunications Act earlier this year. Perhaps Verizon’s prodding will move things along even more quickly.
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Cox launches mobile phone service to combat AT&T, Verizon
Cox Communications, the third-largest cable provider in the US, announced today that it’s launching a mobile phone service that it will bundle with its cable and internet service, .
The cellular service is launching today in Orange County, California; Omaha, Nebraska; and Hampton Roads, Virginia. The company is hoping to take on phone companies like AT&T and Verizon who have been steadily encroaching on Cox’s TV market share.
Cox says the service will be “unbelievably fair” to consumers by giving money back for unused minutes, and the company will also bundle free TV, Internet, or landline phone service. The company will offer alerts to consumers as they approach their monthly minute limit, and will give 5 cents back for every unused minute (up to $20 a month).
24 percent of its customers said they would switch to its mobile service in May, the company said.
Cox will use Sprint’s 3G network initially, but the company is also working on a network of its own, according to the company’s vice president of wireless, Stephen Bye. The company will offer wireless service only in areas where it operates — it has no plans to become a national carrier. Its monthly contracts will start at $39.99, and the company will offer free calling to other Cox cellphones and landlines.
Cox will offer an array of Android handsets initially, including the HTC Desire, Motorola Milestone and LG Axis. The company will expand its offering based on customer demand, according to Bye. The company will sell the phones at its Cox Solutions Stores.
The news makes Cox the first cable company to pursue a wireless service offering, as well as the first to offer a “quadruple play” of services (wireless, TV, internet, and landline phone). Cox and other cable companies have a long history of joint ventures to enter the wireless business — often with Sprint as their partner — but none seem to have taken off as planned.
I can certainly imagine Cox customers being tempted by wireless plans bundled with other Cox services. But building its own network seems foolish when the company can easily lease service from major carriers. The company may eventually save some money by building its own network, but there’s no guarantee it will be able to recoup its costs.
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