BusinessWeek: ‘Verizon Wireless Prepares for the iPhone’

Don’t get all excited — the story is about Verizon Wireless CTO Anthony Melone claiming that Verizon could handle the traffic, not any sort of announcement of a deal with Apple. But it’s interesting nonetheless:

Melone credits the company’s reputation to a focus on high network standards backed by consistent investments and a sophisticated troubleshooting program. Over the last three years, the company has invested nearly $19 billion in its wireless network, or about $6.3 billion a year. “It comes down to backing that process with money,” says Melone. “We’ve been more consistent than any carrier in the last 10 years investing year over year.”

Here’s a [graph comparing Verizon’s and AT&T’s capital expenditures as a percentage of operating income][g]. Verizon has done things like build out a FIOS network, too, but it seems hard to dispute that Verizon spends more on its network infrastructure than AT&T.

Update: Dumb mistake on my part: Verizon Wireless is not Verizon, so this chart is not a useful comparison. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture between Verizon and Vodafone, split 55-45 between the two.

★ Friday, 18 December 2009