Verizon to allow UNLOCKED PHONES?????

Verizon Communications Inc.'s plan to open its wireless network to any devices, not just Verizon cell phones, is partly motivated by a desire to cut costs, the company's chief operating officer said Wednesday.

The move to open access, announced last week, is a departure from cellular carriers' long-standing practice of tightly controlling what devices and services, like music downloads, are available to customers.

By opening up the network, starting late next year, Verizon hopes to carry traffic generated by third-party companies that could build in access to Verizon's data network not only into phones, but also digital cameras and other gadgets.

"We think it's a phenomenal new source of revenue for us," COO Denny Strigl said at an investor conference hosted by UBS on Wednesday.

"It is also, to be totally fair here, something which helps us reduce cost in this new business," Strigl added. The third parties will handle marketing and customer service and pay Verizon based on the network usage racked up by their customers.

"This is not something customers will buy through Verizon," Strigl said.

Last week's announcement by Verizon Wireless — a joint venture of New York-based Verizon Communications and Britain's Vodafone Group PLC — comes as some customers want more flexibility in what they can do with their phones — even though it could leave the carrier as a basic provider of wireless access rather than a value-added content provider as well.

Strigl said he did not expect Verizon to be alone in offering open access.

"My gut feeling is that our competitors will arrive at the same conclusions we did," he said.

Verizon competitor Sprint Nextel Corp. is already providing a similar service to Amazon.com Inc., which last month launched a reading device for electronic books. E-books are downloaded wirelessly through Sprint's network, and Kindle owners never deal with Sprint, only with Amazon.

Strigl acknowledged that Verizon may run into problems if too many customers try to use its data network at the same time, for instance for streaming video. But on the other hand, since Verizon plans to charge by usage, a popular video service that takes full advantage of the network would be a boon to the company.

"We'll just have to be very careful to keep our service quality up," Strigl said.