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Verizon isn't getting WiFi calling until next year, either
AT&T isn't the only carrier not getting WiFi calling until 2015 -- a certain red-branded network's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus won't, either. Speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications and Entertainment Conference, Verizon's CFO Fran Shammo said that his company has some back-end work to finish up before the feature goes live. This is something he predicts should happen around halfway through next year. What's more, he said that WiFi calling was never a top priority, either, as spotted by FierceWireless.
Verizon's first phones with LTE-only calling will arrive in 2016
Verizon has largely finished rolling out its LTE network, but that only raises a new question: when is it going to phase out its long-running CDMA phone service? As it turns out, the transition may start sooner than you think. The carrier's Fran Shammo has revealed at an investor conference that the first phones to rely solely on LTE for calls will be available in the first half of 2016, or just under two years after the launch of LTE voice service in late 2014. He didn't say when Big Red would turn the lights out on CDMA, but it's safe to presume that this won't happen until the majority of devices in use can handle the newer technology. In short, you shouldn't worry about buying a Verizon phone today -- just don't expect to keep it for several years. [Image credit: AP Photo/John Minchillo]
Sprint + T-Mobile: What everyone else is saying about a possible acquisition
Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son has been on a mission to purchase T-Mobile and merge it with the Now Network. His campaign began in secret, first involving several visits to regulators in Washington DC. In the past week, however, he's become much more vocal. Son appeared on The Charlie Rose Show and CNBC on Monday, claiming a post-merger Sprint will be good for the wireless industry. The next day he argued that broadband in the US is one of the slowest and most expensive in the world, and the answer is to encourage mobile broadband deployment. Son's solution to the speed problem is to eventually deploy mobile broadband as fast as 200Mbps, but would a T-Mobile acquisition bring down the cost to consumers? The CEO certainly thinks so: he says the merger will launch a price war and enhance wireless competition unlike anything this country has ever seen. He's going up against federal regulators, two of the largest carriers in the country, and history: just over two years ago, AT&T's attempt to purchase T-Mobile fell flat when the FCC and Department of Justice determined that competition would take a nose dive. So we know Sprint's position on the matter, but what does the rest of the industry think about it?
Verizon: 'it's a mistake' to abandon subsidized phone plans
Of the four major operators in the US wireless industry, Verizon seems to be the most hesitant in making a transition to phone installment plans. Last year, the company launched a plan called Edge in which customers agree to pay for the full retail price of their smartphone in monthly payments; however, Verizon has taken its time in making Edge competitive with AT&T's and T-Mobile's offerings. Big Red is quite a bit more cautious than its competitors, choosing instead to promote its traditional subsidized plans, which involves the customer buying a new phone at a discount in exchange for a two-year contract. Verizon executives have been pretty quiet about future plans, but CFO Fran Shammo shed some light today on exactly why his company isn't making such a huge leap.
Verizon hoping to launch cheaper LTE-only phones in late 2014, bid good riddance to 3G
A pure LTE world is still a long, long way off. But some countries and carriers could get there quicker than others, and indeed Verizon has revealed that it's considering launching LTE-only handsets, with no CDMA chip, within the next couple of years. Speaking to analysts at a recent Deutsche Bank event, the carrier's CFO, Fran Shammo, said his company's goal is to establish voice over LTE by the end of this year and then to "start to think" about pure LTE handsets in "late 2014". Shammo mentioned this possibility in the context of bringing out cheaper phones, and a general incentive for any carrier to leave 3G behind would be to avoid paying associated licensing fees to the likes of Qualcomm or Broadcom. If those savings eventually trickled down to us customers, and if we could breathe the clean air of the countryside without LTE dropping, then it'd certainly be an enticing prospect.
Verizon CFO: LTE rollout should wrap up by mid-2013, months ahead of expectations
Most of Verizon's strategy talk surrounding its long-term LTE plans has conservatively aimed at upgrading all existing coverage areas to 4G by the end of 2013. If we're to believe a CFO Fran Shammo presentation, the carrier may have underpromised and overdelivered: the executive now expects LTE to reach the whole network by the middle of next year, or as much as half a year sooner than first thought. What prompted the quicker rollout wasn't mentioned, although Shammo was eager to point out a surprisingly strong reception to Verizon's (frequently mandatory) shared plans as well as the ample number of airwaves that came from a spectrum transfer deal with cable providers. Having a lot of customers on premium plans with the capacity to support them tends to help with faster expansion, we'd say. No matter the exact reasoning, the shortened schedule could underscore the advantage of Verizon's early start on LTE versus those carriers taking a more relaxed pace.
Verizon CFO buries his head in the sand, claims unlimited data is 'going by the wayside'
"La la la la. I can't hear you." Verizon's CFO, Fran Shammo, might've just as well made those comments with his hands firmly cupped over his ears, as the firm's chief number cruncher told attendees at today's Goldman Sachs investor conference, "Unlimited is just a word, it doesn't really mean anything." While Sprint and T-Mobile would certainly take issue with that statement, Shammo then dug the hole deeper by saying, "That whole unlimited thing, I think, is going by the wayside." These comments were made in the context of Shammo playing up the carrier's shared data plans, wherein he explained his belief that consumers "think they consume a lot more data than they really do." Shammo also revealed that Verizon has converted more subscribers and devices over to the new scheme than it'd initially anticipated. Naturally, change within any industry takes time, but now that Sprint is in a position to offer unlimited data at a meaningful speed and T-Mobile has climbed aboard the bandwagon, Verizon may have to change its tune if a significant number of consumers decide that unlimited isn't dead after all. You can view the entire transcript at the source link below, but consider this: would you take unlimited plans into consideration when shopping between carriers, or is Mr. Shammo right that consumers really don't use that much data? Give us your thoughts in the comments below.
Verizon CFO says grandfathered unlimited plans on the way out
Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo shattered many a hopes and dreams today speaking at the J.P. Morgan Technology, Media and Telecom conference. During his address, Shammo indicated that customers who have been grandfathered in to the unlimited data plan may soon find themselves pushed into tiered territory, with the debut of the carrier's shared data plans. "Everyone will be on data share," Shammo said, clarifying that, "a lot of our 3G base is on unlimited... [and] when they migrate off 3G they will have to go to data share." Obviously, with many customers clinging desperately to their truly unlimited usage in the shift to LTE, such a move would ruffle more than a few feathers. It's not clear if this will affect customers who have already made the leap to LTE devices or if it will be limited to customers migrating from 3G phones after a particular cut off date. We've reached out to Verizon for comment, but so far Big Red is keeping mum. We'll just have to take Shammo at his word for now. We hope you like data caps. To hear the comments in full hit up the source link. Update: We just finished listening through the entire webcast (we're still waiting for the transcript) and found the quote that is going to make most customers shake their fists in anger: "LTE is our anchor point for data share. So, as you come through an upgrade cycle and you upgrade in the future, you will have to go on to the data share plan. And moving away from, if you will, the unlimited world and moving everyone into a tiered structure data share plan." Doesn't get much clearer than that, but we're still hoping Verizon will come back and say Shammo was speaking out of turn... fingers crossed.
Verizon shared data plans are due in mid-summer, target users with multiple devices
On a call discussing Verizon's Q1 earnings report, CFO Francis Shammo has once again touched on the company's promised shared data plans, targeting their launch in mid-summer. He also noted that he expected this to drive growth in the wireless business, because the plan is apparently designed to allow customers to easily add "other devices" to it. You can do your best to tease more meaning out of his statement from the full transcript at Seeking Alpha, we'll be carefully considering how many data hogs are allowed at our share house for the summer.
Verizon CFO says shared data plans coming mid-year
We've already heard from Verizon's CEO Lowell McAdam that the carrier was planning to offer shared data plans. And leaks have indicated that the carrier is already prepping its backend system for the change. Now CFO Fran Shammo has narrowed down the time frame a bit for us, telling a group of investors that family data plans should debut towards the middle of the year. But, he was quick to clarify this isn't as simple as setting a launch date. The shift to the new billing system will take time and not everyone will be migrated on day one. Still, Shammo indicated it will be an important part of the ongoing transition to 4G and its future plans for mobile dominance.Update: We mistakenly identified Fran Shammo as the CTO when, in fact, he is the CFO.
Verizon tiered data plans coming July 7, starting at $30? (update)
We were hoping it wouldn't happen, but it appears that Verizon CFO Fran Shammo's summer foreboding of his company's dreaded tiered data plans could be right on the money. Droid-Life is reporting the magic date will be July 7 and has provided supposed pricing details: data plans without tethering would start at $30 for 2GB, while 5GB and 10GB will cost $50 and $80 respectively. Tethering will cost an extra $20 and adds another 2GB to the pool. There's said to be no notable separation between 3G and 4G -- you'd be billed exactly the same whether you're packing a Droid X2 or a Droid Charge. These new plans wouldn't affect anyone currently under contract, though it's still unknown if customers can hang onto them when it's time to renew. While this remains filed in the "grain of salt" cabinet for now, it may be a good time to at least start checking out your next phone. Update: We just received an internal memo sent around today to select Verizon Wireless employees, and the verbiage is impossible to deny. These things are coming, and soon. Read it in full after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Verizon CFO: Next iPhone works on both CDMA and GSM networks
As part of the Reuters Global Technology Summit, Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo today talked about data plan discounts, prepaid plans and the next-generation iPhone. During his talk, Shammo noted that the next iPhone model will be released simultaneously for both AT&T and Verizon. This is an indication that the next iPhone supports CDMA and GSM networks, possibly using the same Qualcomm-produced dual-mode chipset that is in the current Verizon CDMA iPhone 4. While the GSM bands aren't enabled in the current Verizon iPhone 4, bringing that capability to the next generation device would give the company a chance to sell a true "world phone" that can work in as many countries as the GSM-based iPhone. Shammo also noted that although he is "happy" with sales of the Verizon iPhone, some customers held off on purchasing as they were waiting for a 4G device running on Verizon's LTE network. The CFO isn't concerned about the next iPhone not supporting LTE, stating that Verizon has enough high-speed alternatives to keep customers happy. Referring to the lack of LTE, Shammo was quoted as saying "I think it's a bigger issue for Apple than it is for us."
Verizon CFO suggests next iPhone will be a 'global device'
We're guessing it wasn't on the company's agenda for its earnings call earlier today, but Verizon CFO Fran Shammo let slip one other interesting iPhone tidbit in addition to its news of 2.2 million iPhone 4 activations. Here's what he said: The fluctuation, I believe, will come when a new device from Apple is launched, whenever that may be, and that we will be, on the first time, on equal footing with our competitors on a new phone hitting the market, which will also be a global device. That pretty clearly suggests that the next iPhone -- supposedly coming in September -- will be a world phone, which just so happens to coincide with rumors to same effect we've heard as recently as this week. Of course, there's been talk of a dual-mode GSM / CDMA iPhone even before that, considering that the Qualcomm baseband chip used in the Verizon iPhone is technically capable of supporting both CDMA and GSM networks -- Apple simply chose not to or wasn't able to take advantage of that particular functionality at the time.