Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Verizon: Keep your number

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2003 18:06:19 -0400

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20030625/bs_usatoday/5271926

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Business - USA TODAY

Verizon: Keep your number

Wed Jun 25, 9:12 AM ET

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Michelle Kessler USA TODAY

The ability to switch cellphone carriers but keep your phone number is one step closer to reality.

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In a dramatic about-face, No. 1 cellphone carrier Verizon Wireless (news - web sites) said Tuesday that it should be easy and cheap for customers to keep their numbers when switching carriers.

It also said it wouldn't charge customers who want to switch -- pressuring rivals to do the same.

The Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) says carriers, by Nov. 24, must offer number switching in major markets. But Verizon and others have fought the initiative for years, saying it's too costly and cumbersome. Some carriers are still trying to get around having to do it. As such, Verizon's support ''is an enormous win for consumers,'' says Chris Murray of advocacy group Consumers Union.

Number switching could reshape the wireless industry. Consumers have long wanted to hop from carrier to carrier to get the best deal without changing phone numbers, says wireless analyst Mark Lowenstein. Businesses want the same freedom, he says, so they don't have to reprint business cards. One limitation: Number switching works only if the cellphone user stays in the same area.

Verizon embraced the idea three weeks after another court ruled against the cellphone industry regarding the issue. ''The court has decided, FCC (news - web sites) has ruled, and our customers want it,'' says Verizon Wireless CEO Denny Strigl. ''We're getting on with it.''

Verizon also stands to gain from number switching because it regularly tops customer-satisfaction surveys, says Gartner research analyst Tole Hart. Companies with lower ratings could suffer, he says.

The new regulation could even make it possible for consumers to switch their land-line phone number to a cellphone, but how that might work is unclear. Almost 17% of users surveyed in June by consulting firm The Management Network Group said they would do so if they could.

To recoup the cost of allowing number switching and other government-mandated upgrades, carriers such as Cingular Wireless, AT&T Wireless and Nextel in recent months started charging most customers a monthly fee -- usually around $1.50.

Verizon won't charge a fee until at least November. It will re-evaluate its stance then, it says. If it does charge, it would be 10 cents to 15 cents a month, Strigl says.

While number switching will first show up in major markets, it's eventually expected to be available across the USA.

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