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iPhone hasn't drained us dry, says Verizon
'Defector effect' short-lived, says Vodafone CEO...

By Reuters

Published: Thursday 20 September 2007

Verizon Wireless saw some subscribers defect to AT&T to get the Apple iPhone but the impact was short-lived, said one of Verizon's parents, Vodafone Group.

Vodafone chief executive Arun Sarin said that right after the iPhone was launched in late June, some Verizon Wireless customers moved, or ported, their numbers to AT&T.

He said: "Porting ratios went negative but a month afterward porting ratios were back," adding that a similar trend occurred when Apple cut the price of its iPhone to $399 from $599 earlier this month.

Sarin added: "Porting ratios go negative, then two weeks later were back to normal again."

Vodafone owns 45 per cent of Verizon Wireless, the number two US mobile service. Verizon Communications owns the remainder.

AT&T is the exclusive US provider of the iPhone, which includes a music player and web browser.

Apple has signed deals to sell the iPhone through O2, owned by Telefonica, in the UK and with T-Mobile, owned by Deutsche Telekom, in Germany.

Sarin said he would be interested in talking to Apple about selling the phone when the company comes out with a high-speed wireless version.

He said: "When an HSDPA iPhone is available, we would be interested in talking to Apple."

Sarin said he believed the iPhone would increase the popularity of data services such as web surfing, video downloading and social networking on mobile phones.