Verizon sees 5G fixed wireless access starting with market education and awareness.
Speaking last week at the Bank of America Securities Conference, Verizon EVP and Consumer Group CEO Manon Brouillette discussed how changing consumer and economic dynamics are shifting the traditional logic of subscriber acquisition and upselling. For Verizon, this hits at the confluence of its mobility and home broadband business, including both 5G fixed wireless access and the Fios fiber-based products.
Brouillette called out Verizon’s positioning as a “premium brand” and what that means against a backdrop of worsening consumer sentiment, an inflationary environment and general economic uncertainty. She said U.S. market trends point to a shrinking consumer switching pool and what that means for growth.
“I think the first is to change our mindset,” she said. “The industry in the U.S. has been relying a lot on the switcher pool…That was the easy way to do business. We can no longer rely on the switcher pool to win. There are other ways. For us, it’s bringing stuff to the market where we’re the only one presenting that. We have the best asset—we have the best network so people want to be with us. Now it’s just to convince them.”
Verizon has identified fixed wireless access as a key revenue driver, and significantly expanded the availability of that home broadband service with deployment of its C-Band 5G spectrum. Verizon initially went to market with 5G Home as a mmWave-based service that required a technician to install the antenna and CPE; that process is now self-install.
Brouillette said Verizon is still “on track” to make fixed wireless access available to 50 million homes and 14 million businesses by the end of 2025. “For us, it’s the year of the learning. I don’t see that we’re at our cruising speed…we’re still developing the awareness. We need to educate. It’s a year of building awareness, education for customers, getting our employees excited…The best is ahead of us.”
In execution, she explained, this means developing jo--t account strategies and cross-selling/upselling subscribers to bundle home broadband and mobility services and realize attendant rate plan savings. “It’s doubling down on opportunities that are there,” Brouillette said. “I think we’re doing the right thing and I feel confident about the future.”