Comcast Moves Closer to Offering Cell Service, Activates Deal With Verizon

Comcast is getting closer to entering the cellphone business. In recent months, the cable giant notified Verizon it intends to exercise its option to resell cellular service using the carrier’s network, apparently. Comcast and several other cable operators got the option several years back as part of a spectrum deal with Verizon. Verizon confirmed that at least one of the cable companies was exercising its option to tap Verizon’s network for a cellular service.

“We have an existing [cellular service] agreement and we were informed that they are going to execute on that agreement,” Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said. One of the key questions is whether the companies are going to revise the years-old deal, which was crafted before data became the central part of cellphone service rather than voice minutes or texts. “I am not going to get into whether we are discussing revising the agreement or the terms and conditions of that since it’s under NDA and we will see how this plays out,” Shammo said. “Obviously, the industry is moving. Cable is going to do what they are going to do and we’re going to do what we’re going to do.”