On the Hot Seat: Verizon Wireless CEO McAdam

At last week's CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment conference in San Francisco, FierceWireless editor-in-chief Sue Marek and FierceMobileContent editor Jason Ankeny sat down with Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam to talk about  competition, WiMAX and the formidable iPhone.

FierceWireless:  AT&T recently announced that it added 2 million net new subscribers in the third quarter. Are you concerned about them?  

McAdam: They have always been a difficult competitor. The Big Four are always banging away at each other. The regional carriers are very strong in their individual footprints. I think AT&T having the iPhone is similar to when they had the [Motorola] RAZR a few years ago. They were strong with that and we answered with our devices. Now we are going to answer with the Voyager. The thing I like about this industry is that from Day 1 it has been competitive and it's going to stay competitive. That's why I took the time to testify at the Senate committee last week. When you have great competition like this we are focused on beating the competitor and winning with customers and that's why you don't need the regulation.

FierceWireless: You mentioned the iPhone. Do you have any regret passing on that?

McAdam: None whatsoever.  

FierceWireless:  Why not? Continued...