Verizon to Add Family Data Plans in 2012, According to CEO McAdam

Are you tired of having multiple data plans for multiple devices? Are you on Verizon Wireless? Well then Verizon Communications CEO McAdam certainly has good news. According to McAdam, people are dealing with four to five screens (smartphones, tablets, wireless modems, etc) and don’t like having to pay for all those devices on separate bills, and Verizon doesn’t like that you have to either. As McAdam said at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference:

“I think in 2012 we will see it. We have been working on this for a couple of years. Getting to one bill and getting to account-level pricing is our goal.”

Specifics weren’t provided, but it appears that AT&T and Sprint are playing around with the same idea. While most wireless users are able to share cell minutes through family plans across different phones and users, data usage is tallied on a per-device basis. Family data plans could allow multiple people with multiple devices to share the same pool of data.

Verizon’s plan to drop $3.6 billion to buy SpectrumCo’s AWS spectrum licenses was also discussed. This would allow Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks to resell Verizon products and services and vice versa for Verizon. This is an opportunity too big for Big Red to pass up as it would give the carrier AWS holdings west of the Mississippi River to go along with their East Coast AWS holdings. This would also give Verizon more LTE capabilities

McAdam stated that Verizon and cable companies wanted to work hand-in-hand to provide seamless video experiences, including both content and video conferencing across multiple devices like PCs, smartphones, tablets and TVs. As McAdam put it:

 ”The cross-selling of services is just a way to get those products into the marketplace.”

The first products stemmed from the partnership will most likely in the second half of next year and continue to evolve. If companies were to operate as MVNOs of Verizon, it would have to be done at an added cost and effort for them, but it would be profitable for all parties involved.

The mobile commerce joint venture between Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile USA, known as Isis, was also talked about. We should see a “significant” market rollout by the end of 2012 and that it will become a revenue stream in 2013. That is, if Google can’t get Google Wallet back on their devices.

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