Vodafone and Verizon to land $8.5bn wireless bounty

Vodafone and Verizon Communications look set to land a $8.5bn bounty from their joint venture in Verizon Wireless.

The North American mobile carrier said that it would be issuing the payment by the end of the year as part of an effort to distribute revenues among its ownership group. Vodafone owns 45 percent of Verizon Wireless, while Verizon Communications controls a 55 percent stake.

"The distributions will be paid in one or more tranches, with each tranche paid in proportion to the owners’ partnership interests on the payment date," Verizon said in announcing the payments.

The payments will arrive as Vodafone continues a network update which will include merging its wireless broadband networks with assets owned by fellow carrier O2.

For Verizon, the payments come as the company continues to work on restoring its network in the US Northeast following Superstorm Sandy and severe thunderstorms which have hit the East Coast in recent weeks.

Verizon said that it had laid some 14 million feet of wire since the storm hit and purchased some 8,500 poles as part of its recovery efforts. Verizon reported that in the New York and New Jersey areas hit hardest by the storm, nearly all of its facilities have seen their power restored and are no longer reliant on generators.

Recovery of services was made a top priority in the wake of the storm as wireless networks have played vital roles in connecting citizens and rescuers in areas where landline service have been disrupted.

While Verizon has not disclosed its own costs from the recovery effort, authorities believe that the storm will ultimately be amongst the costliest natural disasters in US history.