Tag Archives: fran shammo

Verizon CFO buries his head in the sand, claims unlimited data is ‘going by the wayside’

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Verizon CFO buries his head in the sand, claims unlimited data is 'going by the wayside'

"La la la la. I can't hear you." Verizon's CFO, Fran Shammo, might've just as well made those comments with his hands firmly cupped over his ears, as the firm's chief number cruncher told attendees at today's Goldman Sachs investor conference, "Unlimited is just a word, it doesn't really mean anything." While Sprint and T-Mobile would certainly take issue with that statement, Shammo then dug the hole deeper by saying, "That whole unlimited thing, I think, is going by the wayside." These comments were made in the context of Shammo playing up the carrier's shared data plans, wherein he explained his belief that consumers "think they consume a lot more data than they really do." Shammo also revealed that Verizon has converted more subscribers and devices over to the new scheme than it'd initially anticipated.

Naturally, change within any industry takes time, but now that Sprint is in a position to offer unlimited data at a meaningful speed and T-Mobile has climbed aboard the bandwagon, Verizon may have to change its tune if a significant number of consumers decide that unlimited isn't dead after all. You can view the entire transcript at the source link below, but consider this: would you take unlimited plans into consideration when shopping between carriers, or is Mr. Shammo right that consumers really don't use that much data? Give us your thoughts in the comments below.

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Verizon CFO buries his head in the sand, claims unlimited data is 'going by the wayside' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 17:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink 9to5Mac, CNET  |  sourceVerizon Wireless (PDF)  | Email this | Comments

Verizon CFO says grandfathered unlimited plans on the way out

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Verizon CFO says grandfathered unlimited plans on the way outVerizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo shattered many a hopes and dreams today speaking at the J.P. Morgan Technology, Media and Telecom conference. During his address, Shammo indicated that customers who have been grandfathered in to the unlimited data plan may soon find themselves pushed into tiered territory, with the debut of the carrier's shared data plans. "Everyone will be on data share," Shammo said, clarifying that, "a lot of our 3G base is on unlimited... [and] when they migrate off 3G they will have to go to data share." Obviously, with many customers clinging desperately to their truly unlimited usage in the shift to LTE, such a move would ruffle more than a few feathers. It's not clear if this will affect customers who have already made the leap to LTE devices or if it will be limited to customers migrating from 3G phones after a particular cut off date. We've reached out to Verizon for comment, but so far Big Red is keeping mum. We'll just have to take Shammo at his word for now. We hope you like data caps. To hear the comments in full hit up the source link.

Update: We just finished listening through the entire webcast (we're still waiting for the transcript) and found the quote that is going to make most customers shake their fists in anger:

"LTE is our anchor point for data share. So, as you come through an upgrade cycle and you upgrade in the future, you will have to go on to the data share plan. And moving away from, if you will, the unlimited world and moving everyone into a tiered structure data share plan."

Doesn't get much clearer than that, but we're still hoping Verizon will come back and say Shammo was speaking out of turn... fingers crossed.

Verizon CFO says grandfathered unlimited plans on the way out originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 May 2012 13:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink FierceWireless, Mobileburn  |  sourceVerizon  | Email this | Comments

Verizon shared data plans are due in mid-summer, target users with multiple devices

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Verizon shared data plans are due in mid-summer, target users with multiple devices

On a call discussing Verizon's Q1 earnings report, CFO Francis Shammo has once again touched on the company's promised shared data plans, targeting their launch in mid-summer. He also noted that he expected this to drive growth in the wireless business, because the plan is apparently designed to allow customers to easily add "other devices" to it. You can do your best to tease more meaning out of his statement from the full transcript at Seeking Alpha, we'll be carefully considering how many data hogs are allowed at our share house for the summer.

Verizon shared data plans are due in mid-summer, target users with multiple devices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceSeeking Alpha  | Email this | Comments