When asked to outline notable value-added business services, the company emphasized three items. First, it touted its variety of converged mobile devices. Second, it emphasized its best-value pricing, most notably its $79.99 monthly rate plan for the new iPAQ h6315 that includes 1,000 minutes of anytime voice and unlimited cellular and hotspot data. Finally, T-Mobile cited what it modestly dubs the industry's "best out-of-the-box e-mail experience," using the iPAQ with partner Good's system or the BlackBerry with RIM's mail services.
T-Mobile was the only vendor to give us volume price discounts aimed at midsize and large organizations, on as many as 500 lines with 500,000 shared minutes at a monthly cost of $25,000. Oddly, though we explicitly requested it, the company did not provide any pricing for its data services. Undaunted, we extracted that information from its Web site, and it seems clear that the company offers the lowest list prices of any of the carriers. For example, unlimited GPRS data on your notebook computer costs $29.99 per month, $10 less as a supplement to an existing voice plan. Wi-Fi hotspot service was also priced lower than competitors, at the same price as GPRS.
We did not receive answers to several of our questions regarding IP addressing options or enterprise network connectivity. But we do have to admit that Catherine Zeta-Jones is our favorite advertising spokesperson.
With more than 40 million voice customers, Verizon Wireless is by far the largest U.S. domestic cellular carrier, though the combined Cingular-AT&T Wireless will likely have slightly more subscribers moving into 2005. Verizon has also been a leader in cellular data, offering both a mature nationwide low-speed CDMA2000 1xRTT network and an expanding high-speed 1xEV-DO footprint. Although available in only 14 U.S. markets (about 75 million POPS), the company pledges to expand that coverage to 150 million POPs by the end of 2005. That's still not true nationwide coverage, but with dynamic fallback to 1xRTT, with a reach of 240 million POPs today, its network is impressive. Verizon's data services build-out has not only placed pressure on Sprint to deploy 1xEV-DO, it will also put pressure on Cingular-AT&T Wireless to quickly expand its UMTS/HSDPA deployment. Perhaps most significantly, Verizon has a positive reputation for both coverage and customer service, as evidenced by its having the lowest churn rate in the industry.
Because it was among the first to deploy nationwide data services, Verizon found itself in the role of establishing initial market pricing. Its current $80 per month unlimited data charge for a PC Card modem is down slightly from its initial rollout but still more than many enterprises are willing to spend. Verizon deserves credit for making the much faster EV-DO services available at the same price, but if the company wants to significantly increase demand, it must exercise its leadership position by reducing monthly charges and bundling free NICs, which currently cost $100 to $150. Verizon's $45 to $50 monthly charge for unlimited data on a smartphone is the highest rate in the U.S. market.
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