Verizon had 13,000 lay offs last year and is expected to do the same this year. With their land line business shrinking and stiff competition in the wireless market, Verizon faces a tough road ahead. The economy hasn’t helped, but Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg feels 2011 will be the turn around year. Most of these lay offs are in their land line side of the business, but some lay offs should be expected in the wireless side as well.
Verizon posts 4th Quarter Loss
In light of the price war going on between the big 3 service providers, Verizon dropped its unlimited talk time rate to $70/month last week. (See my blog Cell Phone Service Provider Price War.) It seems Verizon is scrambling to stay afloat. Their main focus is attracting high paying customers away from AT&T and the iPhone, although another big push is for the fiber optics video service and Internet connection.
AT&T loses its exclusive hold on the iPhone sometime this year. In the meantime, Verizon is pushing the Android phone using Google’s platform. Will having the iPhone available help Verizon’s profit this year? I think so. Dropping the monthly service prices will help as well.
How will the new gadgets like the MagicJack for cell phones affect the wireless service providers? It’s a tough market out there with all the competition. Consumers are facing the same scary economy as the big companies and are being more cautious with how they spend their money. I say, the more competition, the better! What about you? Are you feeling the crunch?
