Verizon Defends Exclusive Handsets, Except for Small Carriers

July 17, 2009, 12:22 pm Verizon Defends Exclusive Handsets, Except for Small Carriers By Saul Hansell

Verizon Wireless is defending AT&T's right to keep the iPhone to itself.

The company today announced a policy that it says will give small wireless carriers more access to phones that Verizon had the exclusive rights to sell. From now on, when Verizon strikes a deal with a manufacturer for exclusive sale of a handset, it will let any carrier with fewer than 500,000 customers sell the phone after six months.

There has been increasing interest in Congress over whether wireless carriers are hurting consumers by shutting out rivals from hot phones. Of course, the hottest phone right now is Apple's iPhone, which is sold only by AT&T in the United States.

It may not be a consumer issue. Much of the political pressure on the issue is coming from smaller wireless carriers that worry that they are being shut out from all the cool phones by a giant carrier.

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