In a market flooded with competitors and service options, teasers and technologies, Verizon continues to satisfy customers with high-quality services and high-value bundles. For example:
* The company now has 7.7 million broadband customers, up 26 percent from a year ago and up nearly 300,000 in the second quarter.
* More than 1.3 million households now subscribe to TV entertainment services from Verizon, with FiOS TV averaging 2,600 sales every business day. In 15 months, Verizon has doubled the number of subscribers bundling their DIRECTV satellite TV service with their Verizon services, with 125,000 homes added in just the last three months.
* More and more customers are buying their services in bundles, with bundled services sales up 26 percent over the past year, owing in part to attractive, high-value combinations of both traditional and the emerging FiOS all-fiber services.
"With all the noise in the marketplace, Verizon continues to deliver what customers want: top-quality services at value-based prices," said Marilyn O'Connell, senior vice president of marketing for Verizon Telecom.
Customers Find Value in Bundles
Verizon has answers for consumers shopping for high-value bundles that integrate their home calling, Internet, entertainment and, increasingly, wireless needs in a single plan on a single bill.
"In January we introduced six new bundles offering two, three or all four services in combinations customers want," O'Connell said of the Verizon Double Freedom, Triple Freedom and Ultimate Freedom bundles. Verizon offers packages of voice, Internet and TV for less than $100- per-month.
"We also introduced two bundles of network calling with FiOS Internet or with FiOS Internet and FiOS TV. Each is available in either 12- or 24-month term offers. Both of these packages are far outpacing our sales projections, in some cases by as much as double our target. Customers are buying tens of thousands of our Freedom bundles ever week, and that helped drive that 26 percent increase in package penetration year-over-year," she said.
O'Connell noted, "Monthly customer surveys show we continue to beat the top five cable companies in overall performance, customer service, loyalty and likelihood to recommend us to others, and that tells us we've got the right products in the right bundles making customers happy."
In addition, Verizon led the University of Michigan's benchmark American Customer Satisfaction Survey for landline services, beating the company's cable and telecom competitors in key performance measurements. Experts expect customer satisfaction to become more and more important to consumers, and companies that provide good service, like Verizon, will benefit while those that don't will lose out.
FiOS Internet and FiOS TV remain on the cutting edge of home services. Verizon is testing download speeds of up to 100 megabits per second and is rolling out a snappy new interactive media guide that simplifies access to all the multimedia and entertainment functions available in the home.
Customers continue to migrate up from dial-up service to Verizon High-Speed Internet service, recognizing that broadband actually changes the online experience and opens doors to emerging tools and services that require higher speed and higher capacity links. A current promotional rate of $14.99 a month is attracting new customers to the broadband experience.
More to Come
Customers can expect continued expansion of Verizon's fiber-optic network, as the company builds toward its goal of serving up to 18 million customers via that network by 2010. Homeowners, apartment and condo dwellers, and small businesses can look forward to thousands more premises passed by fiber services in the 16 states where the network build is under way.
"We also continue to look at ways our service bundles can be improved to support both home and small-business customers," O'Connell said, "and we expect to announce in coming weeks some packaging breakthroughs.
"Bundles are the driver in the marketplace because of customer expectations," she said. "We think our results show that we don't have to be the lowest-priced provider as long as we're the best."-Verizon
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