Verizon joins wireless, landline services
Package aimed at those who've only had cellphones
Facing competition from cellphone providers, cable companies, and online companies that now offer dial tones, Verizon Communications Inc. yesterday introduced a voice package that integrates cellphone and landline service.
The phone giant that built its business carrying landline calls has been pushing into new areas, building a fiber-optic network capable of carrying high-speed Internet and video. The new bundle takes a step beyond just cramming Verizon's services onto the same bill.
Last year, Comcast Corp. began selling a mobile service called Pivot in the Boston and Portland, Ore., markets. The service, which is powered by Sprint and offers features such as a linked voicemail account and unlimited home-to-mobile calling, is now available in 270 New England communities, and it will be offered in Connecticut and Western Massachusetts.
In January, AT&T introduced AT&T Unity, a plan that combines wireless and wireline calling to allow customers to make unlimited calls to other AT&T customers.
"Obviously the traditional telephone business as we knew it two decades ago has dramatically changed," said Eric Rabe, senior vice president of media relations for Verizon. "We think people want to pick up something and make a phone call - they just want to have it and have it work well. This is another solution."
The new integrated Verizon plan includes unlimited local and long distance on a home phone, with 200 minutes and free in-network and home-to-mobile calls on a Verizon Wireless phone. The $60 plan is aimed at young people who have never bought a landline phone and at people who do not yet have a cellphone, Rabe said.
"I think at the end of the day, what they're trying to do is stem their losses for home phone service, because what's happening now is those customers are being poached by the cable operators," said John Byrne, analyst at Technology Business Research.
But Byrne said such bundles may not appeal to customers because they do not offer a significant discount.
While bundling services may be one strategy to retain customers or to interest cellphone customers in later services like video and Internet, it is unclear whether the strategy will work, and Verizon may have difficulty implementing true converged services because it has only a 55 percent stake in Verizon Wireless.
"Then you have to work through the equation," Byrne said. "Am I giving up revenue from my wireline customers by giving them this discounted offer, or at the end of the day are you expanding your audience?"
Carolyn Y. Johnson can be reached at cjohnson@globe.com.
