Verizon’s executive vice president, Ronan Dunne, said at a recent investor event that there is not great value to be had in bundling, but rather that the practice could be used to hone in on “underserved markets,” geographical areas and product types that seldom mix. Dunne said that these overlaps are where it would be useful to push a bundle deal not as a way to simply add numbers for a service that’s not typically used, but to add value for the consumer and give them motivation to come back to or begin using a type of service that they hadn’t thought of before.
According to Dunne, certain market segments may be less receptive to some products, like modernized metropolitan areas being full of cord cutters, or rural areas having a large population of residents that may not see much value and utility in high-speed internet. If customers in these markets could get other services for a marginal amount over their usual charges, or could take advantage of a bundle to get an upgraded tier of a service that they would normally use for less than they would otherwise pay, that could be enough to drive them to actually consider services that they don’t normally use. On an ongoing basis, of course, this model is only profitable if the company behind it offers a good value to the consumer for a high quality product, and that is what Dunne says that Verizon plans on doing.
Speaking on 5G at the same event, Dunne said that Verizon is already deploying early versions of the technology to limited subsets of customers in 8 of 11 total planned testing markets. The focus right now is on fine-tuning the signal and broadcasting end of things, and figuring out how to deploy on the customer side – specifically, whether customers can install small cells in their homes without assistance, and where those should go. Dunne also spoke of Verizon’s position in the race to win contract for FirstNet, a special wireless network made for first responders and emergency personnel. AT&T is getting some of the contracts for FirstNet, but according to Dunne, Verizon will continue trying to secure more contracts, and the company’s current status as the top network provider for emergency personnel makes him confident that Verizon can beat AT&T in the end.