Verizon Communications CFO John Killian said sales of Verizon Wireless handsets are moving at a brisk pace so far this quarter, and he reiterated the carrier's projection of netting at least 1 million postpaid subscribers during the period.
Killian, in remarks at the UBS Global Media and Communications conference in New York City, said he felt "pretty good" about hitting the subscriber goal. He also said the carrier, a joint venture with Vodafone, has plenty of room to grow--particularly as more customers migrate to data-centric devices.
"The good news there is a lot of the upgrades have come from customers who didn't have a data plan," he said. "We think we're in a good place with where the wireless business is."
Verizon Wireless is in the midst of a holiday blitz spearheaded by the Motorola Droid, its flagship smartphone for the season and the carrier's answer to AT&T Mobility's wildly popular iPhone. Killian indicated strong sales of the Droid and other handsets, though the carrier has so far not released specific sales figures. Analysts have speculated that Verizon could sell more than 1 million Droid units before the end of the year.
Killian also countered worries that Verizon's increased presence in the prepaid wireless market would cut into the higher revenues generated by its core postpaid business. Verizon recently inked a wholesale agreement with Tracfone, which has been selling its prepaid Straight Talk service in Wal-Mart stores nationwide.
For more:
- see this Reuters article
- see this Dow Jones Newswires article (sub. req.)
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