Verizon Communications just eliminated the promo-and-rack-rate pricing strategy which has plagued the broadband and pay-TV markets in the U.S., New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin tells investors in a research note. The analyst thinks cable customers coming off promotion will find Verizon's offer compelling. Verizon's new price points are lower than the rack rate prices at the cable companies and the elimination of step-ups will materially lower churn, says Chaplin. He believes these factors should boost the company's subscriber growth and EBITDA.

Ribbon Communications (RRBN) announced plans for a major network modernization program with Verizon (VZ) to retire legacy TDM switching platforms and replace their function with modern cloud-based technologies. Verizon is leveraging Ribbon's portfolio of Voice Products including the vC20 Call Controller, G5 Line Access Gateway, G6 Universal Media Gateway, virtual and Cloud-native Session Border Controllers, and other products which allows for the consolidation and replacement of equipment with energy efficient, software-centric platforms while maintaining full feature functionality.