"When are you going to go vertical?" is a question that Verizon Communications Inc. CEO Ivan Seidenberg (pictured) hears frequently.
Seidenberg said at the Dow Jones & Co. and Nielsen Co. Media and Money conference in New York that he receives queries about whether Verizon will make like the cable companies, and buy sports networks, movie studios and other content assets.
"If I could buy the Knicks and fix them, I would," he joked, invoking the troubled basketball franchise owned by Verizon's crosstown rival Cablevision Systems Corp.
The New York phone and broadband company would think about it if the right opportunity came along, but for now will focus on creating value in its networks.
One day, that could include overseas expansion. International wireless telecommunications is currently at an "interim step," Seidenberg explained. Carriers around the world are developing, or in some countries have developed, fourth-generation services that include advanced Internet and media capabilities. The next step is to globalize standards, so that U.S. wireless subscribers can use their phones more easily in other countries -- and presumably so that U.S. wireless carriers can more easily buy telecoms in other countries.
Verizon is working with Vodafone Group plc, which holds a 45% stake in Verizon Wireless, as well as partners in China and South Korea to develop global standards. -
Chris Nolter
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