For those of you who follow financial news I thought I'd share.
I found this article interesting. Since bringing on the iPhone, telecoms are in a net loss revenue position. But they keep supporting them because they feel they need to be players in the game.
QuoteSince Apple's iPhone debuted on Verizon's network in February 2011, Verizon's "EBITDA service margin" -- a closely watched metric that carriers use to measure their core profit as a percentage of their sales -- has tumbled.
Between 2009 and 2010, Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500) averaged EBITDA service margin of 46.4% per quarter. In the first quarter that the iPhone went on sale, that fell to 43.7%. Last quarter, when Verizon sold a record 4.2 million iPhones, its margin plunged to 42.2%.
Source: http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/08/technology/iphone_carrier_subsidy/index.htm