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CNN Live At Daybreak
Portable Digits
Aired June 25, 2003 - 06:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time for a little business buzz right now. Verizon is giving up the fight against number portability.
Let's get the 411 from Carrie Lee at the Nasdaq market site.
Good morning -- Carrie.
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
A big win for consumers. Verizon Wireless now saying it's going to make it relatively easy for people to keep their cell phone number if they decide to switch carriers, and they're not going to charge people for doing this, at least until November. At that point, they'll take a look, maybe add some small change, 10, 15 cents a month, to people's bills to cover costs, but certainly this is a big win for consumers.
Now remember the Federal Communications Commission had mandated that by November 24 carriers must offer number switching in major markets. Carriers have been fighting this for years. They say it's very burdensome for them, very expensive, so the fact that Verizon is stepping up is certainly good news for consumers.
And some people say this could actually be good news for Verizon as well because this carrier consistently ranks at the top for things like customer satisfaction surveys. So the thinking here, Verizon may be actually getting more business rather than less when people do have the freedom to switch cell pone lines. And surveys say, Carol, that one third of cell phone users would switch carriers if they could keep their number in tact, so certainly a big shakeup for the wireless industry going forward.
COSTELLO: Certainly so. And of course the Fed will speak out later this afternoon. A quick look at the futures before you go, which you think might happen.
LEE: Yes, things look pretty good right now. Looking for a bit of a higher open after yesterday's mixed session. The Dow up a little bit higher, the Nasdaq lower by five points. Of course a lot of people on Fed watch. A quarter point rate cut, a half point rate cut that's the question. Wall Street pretty much does expect some sort of rate cut to occur, though. We'll also get a reading on durable goods orders and home sales.
Also in terms of stocks, keep an eye on Netflix. This is the online DVD rental service. The company says it's received a U.S. patent covering the methods it uses to log customer requests and track checked out DVDs, Carol. So it could be a good stock to watch. It was actually a nice gainer yesterday, up about 6 percent.
COSTELLO: All right, we'll be watching. Carrie Lee, many thanks, live from New York.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 25, 2003 - 06:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time for a little business buzz right now. Verizon is giving up the fight against number portability.
Let's get the 411 from Carrie Lee at the Nasdaq market site.
Good morning -- Carrie.
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
A big win for consumers. Verizon Wireless now saying it's going to make it relatively easy for people to keep their cell phone number if they decide to switch carriers, and they're not going to charge people for doing this, at least until November. At that point, they'll take a look, maybe add some small change, 10, 15 cents a month, to people's bills to cover costs, but certainly this is a big win for consumers.
Now remember the Federal Communications Commission had mandated that by November 24 carriers must offer number switching in major markets. Carriers have been fighting this for years. They say it's very burdensome for them, very expensive, so the fact that Verizon is stepping up is certainly good news for consumers.
And some people say this could actually be good news for Verizon as well because this carrier consistently ranks at the top for things like customer satisfaction surveys. So the thinking here, Verizon may be actually getting more business rather than less when people do have the freedom to switch cell pone lines. And surveys say, Carol, that one third of cell phone users would switch carriers if they could keep their number in tact, so certainly a big shakeup for the wireless industry going forward.
COSTELLO: Certainly so. And of course the Fed will speak out later this afternoon. A quick look at the futures before you go, which you think might happen.
LEE: Yes, things look pretty good right now. Looking for a bit of a higher open after yesterday's mixed session. The Dow up a little bit higher, the Nasdaq lower by five points. Of course a lot of people on Fed watch. A quarter point rate cut, a half point rate cut that's the question. Wall Street pretty much does expect some sort of rate cut to occur, though. We'll also get a reading on durable goods orders and home sales.
Also in terms of stocks, keep an eye on Netflix. This is the online DVD rental service. The company says it's received a U.S. patent covering the methods it uses to log customer requests and track checked out DVDs, Carol. So it could be a good stock to watch. It was actually a nice gainer yesterday, up about 6 percent.
COSTELLO: All right, we'll be watching. Carrie Lee, many thanks, live from New York.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
