In the last few years, Verizon has been able to establish an IoT business capturing an organic growth in revenue nearing a billion dollars annually. With new Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) passing recent legislation requiring the adoption of an Electronic Logging Device (ELD) solution, the telematics industry is expecting to expand to nearly 40 billion dollars worldwide by 2020[6][4]. Although telematics is an important component of their Internet of Things business, Verizon has made substantial investments to capture additional organic growth into the expected total 12.3 trillion dollar market by 2035 through partnerships with Sierra, Cradlepoint, Ericsson, and countless other hardware and software as a service (SaaS) …show more content…
With their network reaching 99 percent of the population in the United States, Verizon Wireless is able to provide their award-winning network to any consumer is willing to pay a slight premium for a higher quality network. Verizon leverages its’ brand and reputation as a premium wireless provider, a temporary competitive advantage, to retain its more profitable existing customer base and also attract prospective customers. Both of the aforementioned advantages are only temporary advantages because they can be replicated by competitors over time and are not inimitable. Through my examination of Verizon Wireless and the telecommunications industry, I was unable to find a truly sustainable competitive advantage and majority of my findings were either competitive parties or temporary …show more content…
Pursuing a viable 5G fixed wireless connection to replace cable internet will be extremely valuable in cross-selling and bundling services. Being a first mover in this area will allow Verizon to capture additional growth on both fixed wireless and traditional wireless services from consumers looking to consolidate providers. Additionally, due to the network quality demands of 5G technology, Verizon will have a competitive advantage over carriers like Sprint or T-Mobile and entice potential customers will a compelling bundled offer. In order to be successful in the future, Verizon should continue to invest in acquisitions and strategic partnerships in the area of IoT. With the Internet of Things being the largest opportunity for organic wireless growth, Verizon will position itself for long-term success due to the complexity of the solutions. Internet of Things based solutions are far more complex than a traditional cell-phone and therefore have higher switching costs. Now that you have a better understanding of the business operations of Verizon wireless, we will now take a look at one of their competitors