In a wide-ranging interview with the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires yesterday, Verizon Communications CEO Ivan Seidenberg said the US giant was focused on growing its enterprise business but ruled out any further acquisitions on the scale of its recent US$28 billion purchase of Alltel, which saw it become the largest mobile operator in the US. “We’ve pretty much got a good hand domestically,” Seidenberg said, but he hinted that the firm could still be interested in snapping-up smaller operators. Verizon has been linked with Qwest Communications International’s long-haul network, but Seidenberg said that deals similar to its acquisition last year of security company Cybertrust were more likely. He also ruled out the possibility of acquiring an overseas operator, and noted that Vodafone’s 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless was likely to remain in place despite long-standing rumours to the contrary. “I would like to own the whole thing, but we don’t have to,” he said.

Elsewhere, Seidenberg noted that Verizon is continuing to invest in both its mobile and fixed-line domestic networks and is spending US$18 billion to upgrade its network to provide a faster fiber-optic link. The upgrade would provide nearly unlimited bandwidth, he said. Commenting on Apple’s iPhone, which is offered in the US on an exclusive basis by rival AT&T, Seidenberg said that Verizon would be better placed to offer the device once its LTE network was up and running. He added that Apple has never considered making a version of the iPhone based on CDMA, Verizon Wireless’ current technology platform. Verizon Wireless plans to begin commercial rollout of LTE networks next year, becoming one of the first operators in the world to do so.