- The reaction on Wall Street has been fairly blithe to news of wireless price increases from Verizon (VZ -1.6%), which touched a 16-year high this week -- likely because analysts are reading the company's price hikes as more of a price cut.
- That's when you look at pricing from the data perspective, per gigabyte. Prices are going up about 13% on average, Nomura's Jeffrey Kvaal notes, but price per GB is dropping about 20% on average (the smallest plan, for example, goes to $35/month from $30 but doubles data to 2 GB).
- For the most part, analysts are signaling that contrary to conventional wisdom, Verizon's moves are defensive and they mean that the price war isn't over.
- "It is being reported that VZ is raising prices and that shows the competition is not hurting them," says Wells Fargo's Jennifer Fritzsche. "We are not sure this is the correct conclusion ... in some ways a case could be made with these new plans and offerings VZ is acting more 'me too' to meet some of the perks which VZ's competitors are already offering."
- Verizon's anti-overage moves -- a $5 "safety mode" and offer to roll over unused data -- also signal an acquiescence to customers' overage-related pains.