Verizon Could Gain 1.4 Million Subscribers Due To iPhone, According To Credit Suisse
In light of the article we ran a little while ago, the one where AT&T Chief Randall Stephenson outlined why he wasn't worried about AT&T losing its exclusivity deal on Apple's iPhone, this new report from Credit Suisse does a lot to argue both points, and all from the same graph. Fortunately for Verizon, the news is only good. As for AT&T, it's surprising to see that Stephenson's comments may have been more accurate than anyone would have guessed, as Credit Suisse finds that, while Verizon may gain 1.4 million customers from AT&T, the exodus from Ma Bell actually won't be that bad.
The report and analysis claims that the iPhone will launch on Verizon by February 15th, but that's just a number they're throwing out and obviously nothing has been confirmed. Additionally, the report includes all of the collected data from the most prominent iPhone and Verizon rumors. As for those included in the survey, Credit Suisse decided to speak with current iPhone owners already on AT&T. The results show that a striking 63% of owners would actually stay with AT&T, whether the iPhone was exclusive or not. That breaks down to: 20% of them being satisfied with their service, 26% believing that AT&T's service is going to improve, and 17% being in a family or corporate plan.
However, 28% of those surveyed would indeed leave AT&T for greener pastures. 23% of them would move to Verizon, while 3% would make the jump to Sprint, and only 2% would head over to T-Mobile. The report goes on to say that the jump from other carriers, while it's expected, wouldn't be immediate, as many people are still currently in contracts, and only 3% of people would be willing to break those to get to a new carrier before they end in due time.
Credit Suisse estimates that AT&T would lose 1.4 million customers to Verizon. As for the 2011 year in total, they believe that Big Red could adopt 4 million new customers in total, while AT&T wouldn't really gain any new customers at all, as it would even out versus the amount of people leaving AT&T for other carriers. The company also believes that somewhere in the ball park of 8.1 million customers are currently waiting for the iPhone to land on Verizon, and that they will pick up the new device in the first year of its release. Interesting numbers to say the least, and continues to paint a very interesting picture in the story.
[via Bloomberg]