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CEO:Verizon Wireless choosy on wholesale deals
Reuters, 05.24.04, 9:53 AM ET


NEW YORK, May 24 (Reuters) - Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications (nyse: VZ - news - people) and Vodafone <VOD.L>, would only set up wholesale deals in markets it is not in, Chief Executive Denny Strigl said on Monday at a Lehman Brothers conference.

Strigl was addressing a question on whether Verizon would follow the lead of Sprint (nyse: FON - news - people), which has signed deals to let AT&T Corp (nyse: T - news - people), Qwest (nyse: Q - news - people) and Virgin Mobile USA use its mobile network to offer their own branded services.

Verizon, the biggest U.S. mobile company, is not interested in relationships with companies that would simply resell a service it already offers, he said.

"Going forward we have a different strategy to competitors," Strigl said. Any agreement would have to "create something new and something different" he added.

Strigl did not specify which cases the company would be interested in setting up wholesale agreements.

Verizon Wireless currently has a wholesale agreement with America Movil (nyse: AMX - news - people) (nasdaq: AMOV - news - people) subsidiary Tracfone.

Copyright 2004, Reuters News Service

http://www.forbes.com/technology/newswire/2004/05/24/rtr1382103.html