Vodafone: iPhone not stealing Verizon users
updated 01:15 pm EDT, Wed September 19, 2007
Vodafone on iPhone impact
One of the parent owners of Verizon Wireless, Vodafone, claims that the Apple iPhone has caused little to no drain of Verizon's subscriber base, despite fears to the contrary. Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin notes that in the aftermath of the June 29th launch of the iPhone, it did in fact see enough subscribers switch to AT&T that Verizon's porting ratios went negative, instead of growing; but within a month, he tells Reuters, they had returned to normal. A similar cycle is said to have happened when Apple cut the price of the iPhone from $599 to $399.
"Porting ratios go negative then two weeks later were back to normal again," Sarin comments. Vodafone's figures do not, however, make any reference to how many new cellular subscribers the iPhone may have lured in AT&T's direction. Partly to deter this, Verizon launched a brief counter-iPhone campaign in June, with special deals and extended store hours.
Vodafone, meanwhile, appears to be deliberately avoiding the iPhone in Europe, complaining that the lack of 3G makes the device irrelevant in countries used to high-speed broadband. If it did have 3G, Sarin says, it could increase the popularity of data services. "When a[n] HSDPA iPhone is available we would be interested in talking to Apple," he states.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2007
best
in the US Verizon has the best network. I'm not surprised.