Verizon Wireless Debuts Consumer Broadband Services

Verizon Wireless announced “VCast” today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a suite of consumer mobile broadband services for the United States, set to go live Feb. 1 on its 3G, EV-DO network.

For an additional $15 per month, customers with EV-DO-enabled handsets will get unlimited access to 300+, two- to five-minute video clips per day, along with unlimited browsing on the Verizon Wireless news and information Web service. Premium content also will be available for an additional charge, which will include music videos, 3-D gaming and other video-on-demand clips.

While consumer 3G services have taken off in Asia and parts of Europe, conventional wisdom says that mobile broadband has little consumer application in the United States, where most downtime is spent in the car, or at the home or office where a computer or television is available. Verizon Wireless has focused on business 3G services until now, but has quietly trialed the consumer offerings in San Diego and Washington, D.C.

The results were compelling, says John Stratton, vice president and chief marketing officer of Verizon Wireless. “Usage will vary from market to market, but we saw video consumption rates to be the same in those two, very different trial cities,” he says. “We have content specifically created for the mobile device. Taking a television program and moving it to a mobile device isn’t that compelling. And gaming is a tremendous seller now, even without 3G, so that will grow. People are always looking to kill time.”

Verizon Wireless has contracted with a variety of content providers for the launch, including MTV’s VH1, Country Music Television and Comedy Central properties, and News Corp.’s Fox TV, which has developed Verizon Wireless-specific clips including “24 Conspiracy,” “Sunset Hotel” and “Love and Hate.”

More intriguing offerings will launch over the course of the year, although the carrier hasn’t divulged details. “Right now these are streaming services, with no specific memory implications,” says Stratton. “We believe the VCast experience will be transformational for customers in the U.S., and we will expand services during 2005. Handsets will have expandable memory capabilities as demands on the devices grow.”

Speaking of handsets, the mobile giant says three new VCast-ready devices will be available Feb. 1 from the “Get It Now” virtual store. The phones will include a high-resolution camera with zoom function, speakerphone and full color digital video display. Pricing has not been determined.

“These services are almost viral,” says Stratton. “It’s in our best interest to get as many of these devices as possible in people’s hands so they can access the services.” By the end of the year, he predicts, EV-DO handsets will claim a large minority, if not a majority, of phones purchased.

The mobile operator is bullish on the future of consumer mobile broadband stateside. It announced the 3G mobile EV-DO network one year ago, and now has expanded service to 30-plus cities in the United States. By the end of 2005, more than 60 markets will go live. Denny Strigl, president and CEO of Verizon Wireless, notes that more than a third of Verizon Wireless customers take data services, prior to broadband availability. “So I believe that this is a defining moment in the wireless industry,” he says. “This isn’t a plan, this is reality, and it’s here now.”

“This is an example of how the wireless phone is going to change and grow to be much more than a talking device,” says industry analyst Jeff Kagan. “It will become more of a portable computing device. One of three, the computer the television and the cell phone.”

The carrier also may be gearing up to combat attrition from metro Wi-Fi and the coming WiMAX standard, set to go mobile in 2006. “This is comparable to Wi-Fi in speeds of 300 to 500kbps, but with a wide area advantage,” says Dick Lynch, executive vice president and chief technical officer of Verizon Wireless. “There’s no searching for a hotspot with this.”

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