Verizon ending phone rentals

By Frank Cho
Advertiser Staff Writer

Verizon Hawaii has decided to get out of the telephone rental business after more than 30 years.

Verizon Hawaii, formerly GTE Hawaiian Tel, said the move should affect roughly 6,500 Hawai'i consumers by the time the program ends in May.

"We are getting out of the rental business because demand is on the decline and has been for many years now," Ann Nishida, a spokeswoman for Verizon Hawaii, said yesterday.

"Less than one percent of our customers actually rented this equipment. That is why we decided to get out of this entirely," Nishida said.

Verizon had charged customers $5 to $17 a month to rent phones.

Verizon Hawaii also said Bell Atlantic, which merged with GTE Hawaiian Tel's parent company to create Verizon, did not rent phones and Verizon wanted to standardize the policy nationwide.

Nishida said customers will not have to return the phones they have been renting, and April will be that last month for which customers will be billed for the rental phones.

In the meantime, Verizon said it will stock up on new phones at the company's Phone Mart retail outlets to meet any repair or replacement requests. Any repairs after May 31 will be at the customers' expense, Verizon said.

The decision to end Verizon Hawaii's rental phone business is not expected to affect any employees.

Frank Cho can be reached by phone at 525-8088, or by e-mail at fcho@honoluluadvertiser.com.