Comcast’s Wireless Ambitions Face Hurdle

Comcast’s most obvious route into the wireless business isn’t looking as easy as it once did.

In 2011, the cable giant struck a deal with Verizon Communications giving it the right to sell wireless service using the carrier’s network at set terms and pricing. Now, as Comcast explores a wireless offering, it has a different interpretation of that resale agreement than Verizon, say people familiar with the situation. One issue: how much flexibility Comcast would have in creating plans and prices for mobile data, a key part of any modern cellphone service. The contract also didn’t specifically contemplate shareable data plans, a common offering from wireless carriers that allow families, for example, to buy 10 gigabytes of data a month and split the capacity among devices, the people said.

Verizon didn’t even offer such plans when the deal was struck four years ago. In addition, the agreement’s data prices were set before a price war instigated in 2013 by T-Mobile US and exacerbated by Sprint. That price war has resulted in broadly lower per-gigabyte prices.