Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo said this week during the Deutsche Bank 2013 Media, Internet & Telecom Conference that emerging platforms like BlackBerry 10, Firefox OS and Tizen will lead to more competition and lower smartphone prices. This in turn will reduce subsidy costs for carriers.
"I'm a believer that over the next two to three years subsidies will start to decrease just because of the ecosystems," he said. What's more, as Verizon migrates to Voice over LTE technology sometime between the end of 2013 and the start of 2014, smartphones will be offered without CDMA chipsets, thus reducing subsidy costs even more.
Shammo said that subsidy costs are a big part of Verizon's expenses, and that the model has "prevailed" in the U.S. market over the last 12 years. Margins are typically decreased when carriers sell a large amount of smartphones because of the higher subsidy costs they bring.
Over the weekend, news surfaced that rival carrier T-Mobile planned to move to a no-contract model on March 24 that will eliminate subsidies and early termination fees. The company will reportedly offer a monthly installment plan on smartphone purchases ranging between $25 and $30 USD. The new model is supposedly part of the "in your face" campaign CEO John Legere teased back in December, which is scheduled to launch after the MetroPCS merger in 2013.
Speaking of mergers, there's talk that Verizon Communications is looking to end its relationship with European partner Vodafone Group either by way of a buyout or a complete merger. Both parties were talking up a "full combination" as recently as December, but stumbled over disagreements on leadership and headquarters location.
Vodafone currently controls a 45-percent stake in Verizon Wireless that's reportedly worth $115 billion. Insiders claim that a complete buyout or a partial sale will likely be the outcome instead of a full merger, as New York-based Verizon is looking to take full control of its wireless carrier division by the end of 2013. So far no formal discussions of a merger are currently under way.
The venture between the two companies began when Verizon Communications was still named as Bell Atlantic Corp. during the Clinton administration. Both Bell Atlantic and Vodafone's U.S.-based branch agreed to merge their mobile units in September 1999, thus resulting in Verizon Wireless (and the debut of the "Verizon" name) which launched in the following year.
One recent merger scenario discussed between the two companies saw a new headquarters established in the U.K. led by Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam. Verizon shareholders would hold 55-percent to 60-percent of the merged company's equity, sources said. But that plan died because of Verizon's resistance in migrating to Europe, and Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao's reluctance to step aside.