General Motors' OnStar Dumps Verizon for AT&T

By Arselia Gales

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS Verizon Wireless will no longer provide high-speed wireless service for General Motors car models equipped with OnStar in 2015.

GM will use AT&T in its 2015 models and will further discuss the new partnership at the Mobile World Congress show this week in Barcelona, according to a Reuters article. AT&T already has wireless deals with car companies such as Ford and Nissan.

Verizon Wireless, which has been GM’s wireless provider since 1996, will still support OnStar services for current GM vehicles and any new models that are released before the 2015 models that go on sale in mid-2014.

GM aims to increase car sales and OnStar subscriptions by including services such as video streaming for passengers for the majority of its Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac models. GM is also exploring the possibility of wirelessly sending customers alerts about certain car troubles and sending data from a car to the owner’s mobile device, according to Phil Abram, a GM executive director.

“AT&T’s vision with what we want to do with the connected vehicle was very highly aligned,” Abram told Reuters. He declined to comment on terms of the deal with AT&T and the cost of the new services.

Glenn Lurie, president of emerging enterprises and partnerships for AT&T, said in the article that OnStar subscribers might be able to add their car to an AT&T shared data plan. He expects roughly 20 million new cars sold from 2015 to 2018 will have wireless connections.