Verizon’s Strigl Rejects Wireless Mobile Directory

The chief executive of Verizon Wireless, Dennis Strigl, told American lawmakers that a planned mobile-phone directory is a “terrible idea” and he won’t participate to protect the privacy of his 40 million customers.“There is not a groundswell of demand for a directory that would justify putting privacy in jeopardy,” Mr. Strigl said in remarks prepared for a Senate Commerce Committee hearing yesterday.Mr. Strigl’s stance puts Verizon Wireless at odds with Cingular Wireless LLC and the five next-largest carriers, which plan to let their combined 101 million customers opt into the industry’s first public listing of mobile phone numbers.It may cost his company some of the $2 billion in annual sales the service may generate, said an independent analyst, Kathleen Pierz.Verizon Wireless “would be well served to revisit this issue,” said Ms. Pierz, who covers the directories industry and will testify at the hearing. “It’s not good for them in the long term,” because Verizon would forfeit fees and rankle subscribers who want to use the registry, she said in an interview.Shares of New York-based Verizon rose 36 cents to $40.55 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday. Vodafone Group Plc of Britain owns 45% of Verizon Wireless.Starting as soon as next month, carriers will begin compiling a database of numbers for customers who let their details be included. Callers to wireless-directory assistance will be connected to the phone of a person requested, without being given the number. Information won’t be listed in phone books or other places accessible to the public, such as the Web.The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association’s president, Steve Largent, the mobile-phone industry’s chief lobbyist, also is due to appear before the Senate panel, which oversees the communications business. Mr. Largent is among the proponents of the directory.“Life continues as it always has” for people who don’t want their numbers listed, Mr. Largent said in an interview.Congress is considering bills that would force carriers to provide ways for customers to list and unlist mobile-phone numbers.Cingular, AT &T Wireless Services Inc., Sprint Corp., Nextel Communications Inc., Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile USA Inc., and Alltel Corp. are among those compiling the directory. Carriers typically charge about $1.25 to connect callers to a requested number.Currently, wireless-phone users can list numbers in local-telephone directories, and those numbers also appear in the national white pages and Web listings.Verizon Wireless won’t list its subscribers’ phone numbers in the directory or connect customers to other registry numbers, said spokeswoman Brenda Raney.Verizon Communications Inc., which owns 55% of Verizon Wireless, also won’t connect users of its 54.4 million landlines to the directory, said Jim Smith, a spokesman for the New York-based company.“The floodgates are open to spam, viruses, telemarketing, and other unwanted, unsolicited messages on landline phones, computers and in mailboxes,” Mr. Strigl said in the prepared testimony. “Our customers view their cell phones as one place where they don’t face these intrusions.”The estimate of revenue that may be generated by the directory is “speculative,” Ms. Raney said.In a survey conducted by Pierz during July and August, 23 percent of respondents said they’d list mobile phone numbers if they were assured their privacy would be protected.In the survey of 1,503 Web users, 11% said they would list their numbers with no protection, compared with 2% in 2003.Mr. Strigl said in a June interview he’s also concerned that the government may try to dictate how the registry works.“Verizon is weighing the cost of sacrificing privacy for customers against incremental revenue,” said analyst Tim Gilbert of Des Moines, Iowa-based Principal Global Investors, which manages $122 billion, including Verizon Communications shares and bonds. “They don’t really see the need to push that envelope.”Last year, Verizon Wireless’s sales rose 15% to $22.5 billion, as net income jumped 19% to $3.08 billion.Congress in November began weighing three similar bills that would force carriers to obtain permission from clients before listing their mobile-phone numbers.Congress hasn’t acted on the proposals from lawmakers including Senator Specter and Rep. Joseph Pitts, both Pennsylvania Republicans.

Verizon’s Strigl Rejects Wireless Mobile Directory

Verizon’s Strigl Rejects Wireless Mobile Directory

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