UPDATED 10:49 EDT / SEPTEMBER 22 2011

Verizon Roots For AT&T-T-Mobile Merger, Pushes for Mobile OS Diversification

Speaking at a Goldman Sachs investment conference Wednesday, Verizon Communications Chief Executive Lowell McAdams pointed out two things: his support for the AT&T-T-Mobile merger and the need for a number three mobile operating system.

McAdams stated that the “match had to occur” and that the government better come up with a better plan on how to supply the increasing demand in the industry if they block the merger.

“I have taken the position that the AT&T merger with T-Mobile was kind of like gravity,” Mr. McAdam said. “It had to occur, because you had a company with a T-Mobile that had the spectrum but didn’t have the capital to build it out. AT&T needed the spectrum, they didn’t have it in order to take care of their customers, and so that match had to occur.”

Some are questioning McAdam’s statement, as some analysts are seeing that Verizon could possibly benefit a great deal from the merger. This comes as the Justice Department sees that the combination of the country’s second- and fourth-largest wireless carriers could raise prices for consumers.

During his speech, McAdams pointed out that though wireless carriers are looking for a third mobile operating system to balance the power of Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS, consumers may not see the need for a third mobile OS.

“The carriers are beginning to coalesce around the need for a third ecosystem. I just saw in today’s paper, as an example, Samsung has now announced they are going to open up the operating system that they developed, so they are a possibility. Microsoft is a possibility. RIM is a possibility. And I think that over the next 12 months, I think it will coalesce and you will start to see one emerge as a legitimate third ecosystem.”

The question is, how can wireless carriers choose which OS should be number three without others crying foul?  And would consumers be happy about this?

And finally, Verizon promises to alert consumers on or around the 20th day of your bill cycle if you are approaching, or have exceeded, your voice, messaging or data allowances.  Unfortunately, their alerts aren’t really reliable.

According to Tom Pica, from Verizon’s media relations department, Verizon sends out “thousands of free courtesy alerts each month to customers who appear to be tracking above their voice usage.” However, “for a variety of reasons, we may not always send out alerts to every customer who goes over on their monthly plan. We continue to work on ways to enhance the system.”

The funny thing about this is that Verizon’s Washington lobbyists argue against the Federal Communications Commission’s efforts to introduce a new rule that would mandate alerts by stating that there’s no need for that because Verizon already gives ample warnings and alerts to their customer stating that, “Specifically, around the 20th day of each customer’s billing cycle, Verizon Wireless reviews each customer’s account to determine whether that customer has surpassed or is trending to surpass their voice, messaging, or data allowances for the month and, if so, sends the account holder a free text message.”

Clearly, if their alerts aren’t reliable, how can they say that they give their customers ample warning?


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