Though Verizon Wireless and corporate half-parent Vodafone are finally
getting close to achieving technological synergy now that both are moving to
LTE for their next-gen networks -- and
contrary to recent statements -- rhetoric is heating up that suggests the marriage may not last forever. Speaking at an investor's get-together this week, Voda CEO Vittorio Colao said that "the board continues to look at" the company's investment in the joint venture with Verizon -- which we take as executive-speak for "everything's for sale for the right price." The popular rumor is that Vodafone's bummed about Verizon's failure to pay dividends for the past four years, which effectively means that Big Red isn't actively contributing to the wireless giant's bottom line. Verizon's made no secret of the fact that it'd love to
own the joint venture outright, so come on, guys... Verizon's got money, Voda's got the goods, let's sit down at that oaken conference table on the 45th floor and work this out.
posted Sep 17th 2009 1:06PM
Interesting. How much will it cost VZW to buy out Vodafone. I wonder if that would in turn interest Vodafone to buy out Sprint and directly compete with VZW.
Or NTT DoCoMo should buy Sprint instead of going the MVNO route.
vorizon maybe
Does anyone know why Verizon never offered GSM? I may move back if they did, AT&T pisses me off. I never understood how Vodafone, all GSM, would not at least allow half GSM and half CDMA through Verizon. I remember the old AT&T was half and half.
But if they're moving straight to LTE, maybe this doesn't matter anymore. I just always wondered why if Vodafone is a partner, why there's no GSM on Verizon. Sorry for the silly question, I was just curious.
Engadget, my guess is you have minimal experience dealing with Verizon Communications. If VZW's complete stake was purchased by VZC, things would be horrible. VZC is staying in business by a thread... Or should I say fiber, as in FiOS, and they would surely take VZW with it. I think VZW should buy its own stakes from both Voda & VZC, and run independently, because VZW is far more successful than VZC, and is actually headed in the right direction. Call VZC customer service, and you see if you want that company to be any larger than it already is.
Are you genuinely basing your opinion solely on customer service calls?
I suppose you've never dealt with Verizon Communications either, since you're asking that question. And suppose I was, if I'm a customer, and VZC has just horrendous customer service/technical support, and everytime I call in I never get a resolution. If my cable is out, they take forever to get it fixed, if I have a billing question, they just transfer me repeatedly until I hang up, is that a company I'm going to remain in business with? Their lack of customer service is why they're in the shape they're in. No offense, but you may want to research an issue before sarcastically questioning another person's comment.
I am a Verizon customer on the business and consumer level with several different services and products. Are you implying that the most important service to Verizon's bottom line is customer service? Customer service loses money for Verizon and most companies. Your comments question the stability of the company and make it sound as though consumer phone customer service is the most important thing to VZ's stability when in reality consumers are nowhere near as important as business customers to the bottom line. You may want to look into Verizon's business model before returning to re-state an inaccurate point.
Anybody that's in business knows that the biggest "screw-driver" on the block belongs to VZ... both VZW and VZC. While at&t isn't all goodness and sweetness and light, they still have enough of old blue left to work a lot better with business than VZ does. Of course neither of them work anywhere near as well with business as VF. VF should just sell their stake, partner loosely with at&t and just let VZ slowly implode all by itself.... be kinda fun to watch.
VZC = Union.
VZW = Non-Union.
That's the difference.
VZW would be better off going it alone. srsly. VZC is like looking at atari's and mac's rigged together. Their technology behind the scenes is horrible and VZC doesnt care about the customer. VZW is ALL about the customer. Wireless is too competitive to be run by an old elephant. VZC would drag it's feet too much. come on they are just NOW realizing land lines are not where the money is. VZC is union, and it shows. you cant cut the dead weight employees so easily in a union. VZW is better off on its own than with VZC running the show.
sitruc - Just because you're a customer (both personal and business! you impress me), does not make a company successful. Without the profit that VZW pulls, VZC would not be a successful company. It also doesn't help that the boy-genius Denny Strigl is retiring either, as he is the one who brought VZW to prominence. I work in the industry, and understand what is successful, and what is not. Would you dare say that Sprint's failures have nothing to do with its terrible customer service? They're bleeding customers, but let me guess, you have another incorrect argument about that as well. No, my argument isn't that customer service is Verizon's only failing, but the bottom line is that you're clearly misinformed to say that they're a successful company on their own. Look at what their numbers are without VZW, mediocre would be a compliment. As a previous commenter stated, they just now realized that landlines are headed down the drains. Being able to forecast market conditions is a key element to successful business, and they clearly don't have that. Again, just because you're a customer doesn't make you an expert in the subject matter, nor does it make the company you're with successful.
You're moving the goal posts all over the place.
With T-Mobile already rolling out 21MBPS 3G coverage in america, as well as having recently purchased Orange Mobile UK(France Telecom) to become the UK's largest provider, AND vodafone looking to sell it's 45% share in verizon - this would be a good time to sweap in and take over for US operations