Small wireless carriers may have been momentarily excited when Verizon Wireless announced this week that it would be selling the iPhone, ending AT&T’s exclusive deal on the product. Verizon had previously said that it would limit any exclusive deals of its own to six months, opening up the possibility of small cellcos partnering with Verizon on wireless broadband services buying the same products at the end of the six-month period.
There was just one problem. Verizon’s deal for the iPhone wasn’t exclusive. As a result, a Verizon Wireless exec explained in a letter to Rural Cellular Association President Steven K. Berry this week, small cellcos would need to take the matter up directly with Apple.
This isn’t necessarily bad news for the small cellcos, who potentially could get the iPhone even sooner than six months.
It’s important to keep in mind, though, that Verizon’s new deal with Apple is for devices that will work on the carrier’s 3G network. Had the deal involved the LTE network that Verizon is rolling out with the help of rural cellco partners, hopefully Verizon would have made a point of including those partners in its negotiations with Apple.