Verizon to offer local, long-distance as one

The phone company joins MCI in offering both services in a package as part of a trend to keep customers from switching long-distance providers.

By LOUIS HAU, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 28, 2003

Verizon Communications is launching a new calling plan that will enable customers to make unlimited local and long-distance phone calls on a traditional "landline" phone for a flat monthly fee.

The new plan, which Verizon is dubbing "Veriations Freedom," is being launched todayin New Jersey and Pennsylvania and will be available in Florida, including the Tampa Bay area, in late February. The plan will cost $49.95 a month in Florida.

Veriations Freedom is similar to long distance carrier MCI's groundbreaking "The Neighborhood" program, which was launched last April. It was the first calling plan from a major telecom carrier to offer unlimited local and long-distance calls for a fixed rate.

The Neighborhood costs $49.99 to $59.99, depending on the market, but it's not offered in the bay area.

The new plans are part of a broader trend among telecom companies to bundle their services in an effort to cut down on plan-switching among customers. The established carriers are also struggling to stem the erosion in landline phone usage as consumers substitute wireless service, according to Nancy Kaplan, a telecommunications consultant for Adventis Corp. in Boston.

"I think it's good news for the consumer," Kaplan said. "People love these kinds of plans. It's easy. It takes away some of the frustration over how much they want and how much they're going to pay."

The continued uncertainty surrounding the future of MCI parent WorldCom Inc. means Verizon is launching Veriations Freedom at a good time to snare new customers, even those who already use The Neighborhood, Kaplan said.

"People view Verizon as a strong, stable company," she said. "They have the opportunity to bundle wireless and DSL (high-speed Internet) services as well. . . . They have the reputation to gain share very quickly."

Kaplan added that she expects other established local phone companies to begin offering new bundled calling plans soon. The Neighborhood isn't available in the Tampa Bay area because of what MCI and its partner, Z-Tel Technologies Inc. of Tampa, claim are excessively high access rates to Verizon's local-phone network.

The Florida Public Service Commission voted in October to cut the wholesale rates Verizon charges its competitors for access, but some competitive local carriers argued that the rates were still too high to offer their own residential local-calling plans. Verizon told the Florida Supreme Court in December that it intends to appeal the PSC's rate cut, claiming that its wholesale rates were already too low to cover the costs of maintaining its network.

-- Louis Hau can be reached at hau@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3404

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