Verizon Wireless is planning this summer to begin forcing smartphone customers with unlimited data plans to switch to tiered plans when they upgrade, the company’s chief financial officer told Wall Street analysts on Wednesday.
At the JP Morgan Technology, Media and Telecom conference in Boston, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said the company will unveil a “data share” pricing model by mid-summer, which will give customers the ability to buy an allotment of data that can be used across multiple devices linked to the same account.
As wireless providers begin to see their SMS cash cow wither due to more people using things like Facebook, email, and messaging apps to communicate, the carriers are going to have to find new sources of revenue.
Wireless data is the new SMS.