Verizon Wireless to open its network

Source: Exec Digital USA

Date :11/27/2007 11:31:20 AM

Verizon Wireless said Tuesday it will introduce an "any app, any device" option which will allow its customers to use phones and software not sold by company starting at the end of 2008.

Verizon Wireless said it will allow customers to buy phones or download software that the company does not support so long as the devices and applications meet certain standards that make them compatible with its network.

“This is a transformation point in the 20-year history of mass market wireless devices -- one which we believe will set the table for the next level of innovation and growth," said Lowell McAdam, the chief executive of Verizon Wireless, in a statement.

Currently, customers must use phones and applications and other software that only Verizon Wireless provides for its network.

Market pressure

Big mobile operators such as Verizon and AT&T Inc. have long resisted opening up their networks to independent software makers and they've kept tight control over the phones that would work with their service.

However they have come under pressure to open up their networks, from some major technology companies such as Google Inc who have unveiled similar open-standards software platform for mobile phones. Dubbed Android, it already counts Sprint Nextel Corp. and Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile USA as allies.

Technical standards

In a statement released this morning, the company said it plans to publish technical standards early next year for the development. Any device that meets the minimum technical standard will be activated on the network, the statement said.

The company- jointly owned by Verizon Communications Inc. and U.K.-based Vodafone Group Plc-will provide further details at a Web conference this morning.

November 27, 2007