Did CDMA smooth Verizon Wireless' iPhone launch?

Has Verizon Wireless’ (VZ) technology choice allowed the carrier to avoid the iPhone-related network headaches incurred by AT&T Mobility? Well, according to Verizon Communications Inc.’s EVP and CTO Tony Melone, the carrier’s use of CDMA technology while derided by some as outdated could be helping the carrier handle increased traffic being generated by the recent launch of Apple Inc.’s network-pounding device.
Speaking at the Credit Suisse Group Convergence Conference on Monday, Melone responded to a question about the perceived lack of impact the launch of the iPhone has had on its network by touting the technology capabilities of the carrier’s network.
“I would argue that CDMA gives us some advantages on spectral efficiency, on 1x, voice, EV-DO, separate network,” Melone said. “Obviously, our competitor has made a lot of noise about some of the limitations of having the two separated. But there’s also advantages to that, and one of them is the ability to handle more traffic more efficiently without impacting the network as a result of that.”
AT&T Mobility has continued to run commercials touting the ability of its iPhone to access both voice and data services at the same time, a feature not currently supported by commercial CDMA networks.
Verizon Wireless has said that initial sales of the iPhone have been the strongest for any device it has ever offered, though it should be noted that network issues blamed on the iPhone did not show up at AT&T Mobility for quite some time after the device launched in 2007.
Melone also downplayed the success of network sharing arrangements that are starting to grip the industry, specifically those offers being put forth by Clearwire Corp. and LightSquared.
“I really think that spectrum sharing is an interesting concept, or spectrum and network sharing is an interesting concept in theory,” Melone said. “I don’t think you have to look very far to see evidence that very, very few examples of where that has been effective for people. And where it has, it has been an environment where essentially the network is irrelevant to the value proposition. And we at Verizon feel like the network is at the core of the value proposition, so we don’t see that in our future. And again, Clearwire and Sprint and what you’ve seen there – there’s plenty evidence to suggest it’s very, very hard even for two players to coordinate, let alone three or four or five.”
Melone also hinted that the carrier was looking to decrease the current 200-plus data centers Verizon currently operates and taking advantage of the assets the company acquired with its recent $1.4 billion purchase of cloud computing provider Terremark Worldwide Inc.