Verizon Wireless said today it has filed a lawsuit to stop a Utah-based telemarketing company from calling its customers and employees to advertise the upcoming movie, “The Velveteen Rabbit.” The lawsuit, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Trenton, alleges Feature Films for Families, Inc. illegally used an autodialer to call Verizon Wireless customers on behalf of a company called Family 1 Films, based in Los Angeles.

The lawsuit states that over 10 days in early February, nearly 500,000 calls were made to Verizon Wireless customers and employees from the telephone number 917-210-4609. When customers answered these calls to their wireless phones they heard either a prerecorded voice message or an individual reading a script promoting the anticipated release of the film.

“Telemarketers continue to harass our customers and impinge on their privacy, often using illegal methods including autodialers,” said Steven E. Zipperstein, vice president and general counsel of Verizon Wireless. “Whatever their methods and whatever their product, these unlawful telemarketing calls are an annoyance to our customers and invade their privacy.”

Many of these calls came in rapid succession, indicating the use of an autodialer to place the calls. For example,between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Feb. 13, nearly 11,000 calls with the same caller ID were made, an average of one call every 0.32 seconds, and nearly 10,000 calls were made from a number with the same caller ID between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Feb. 6, an average of one call every 0.36 seconds.

The lawsuit alleges violations of the Federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which makes it illegal to use an autodialer to make calls to wireless phones, as well as state fraud and privacy laws. Verizon Wireless has also filed a motion seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the defendants from making these calls.

Verizon Wireless’ record of protecting customer privacy puts the company at the forefront of the U.S. wireless industry. Over the past several years, Verizon Wireless has won permanent injunctions against individuals and companies that have engaged in illegal telemarketing and text message spamming to Verizon Wireless customers, and against those who have attempted to obtain information about Verizon Wireless customers to sell to third parties.

Verizon unveiled suppliers for its Long Term Evolution (LTE) network at the Mobile World Congress trade show in on Wednesday.

LTE is an emerging technology that promises to make mobile Web surfing about four times faster. There is increasing urgency worldwide for faster wireless networks as growing demand for mobile data is driven by smartphones and embedded laptops.

Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon Communications and Britain’s Vodafone, is the largest operator to date to commit to LTE, following Japan’s NTT DoCoMo last year.

Sweden’s Ericsson would be the second supplier for radio network equipment, while Nokia Siemens Networks would be the second supplier for IMS technology — which enables multimedia services.

Starent Networks, together with Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson, would provide core network technology, Verizon said.

“The relevance is much more important for Nortel and Motorola, which have not been selected,” said Thomas Langer, analyst with WestLB.

“It is up to Alcatel-Lucent to drive the LTE business forward, but we think the competition will be very fierce.”

Analysts had expected Verizon to choose Alcatel-Lucent as a key LTE infrastructure vendor since it is already a major supplier to the venture.

“It is a validation that we have a solid portfolio,” Philippe Keryer, head of Alcatel-Lucent’s Carrier Product Group, told Reuters.

“It’s putting us in a pretty good position in the new technology. It is giving a good momentum and a good start,” Keryer said, adding the firm was in talks with several operators about deployment of LTE networks.

Ericsson had also been named as one the top contenders.

The company is also looking at offering a $10 plan that includes limited outgoing calls to local numbers and compares with Verizon’s current cheapest calling plans of $20 to $25 a month. For nationwide calls it charges about $40 a month.

Both offers may only be available to customers who also subscribe to Verizon high-speed Internet services.

Verizon said that while it was looking at its options for keeping customers it had made no firm decisions yet.

“This is something we are looking at,” company spokesman John Bonomo said. “Any of the details could be changed. Things along those lines are things we’re looking at.”

The Wall Street Journal reported in a story citing unnamed sources that the company may offer the new options as early as this summer, but company spokesman William Kula said it had not yet decided on a timeframe.

“We’re merely considering a wide range of offers,” he said. “We will continue to compete very aggressively against the cable companies as well as the voice over the Internet companies.”

Kula said that the main reason people want to keep their wired home phones is for reliability and safety.

“We’re looking at a number of different types of plans that would encourage people to continue to use their landline phones,” Kula said.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Chris King said it made sense for Verizon to offer less expensive options to people who were planning to disconnect their home phone anyway.

“It’s $5 or $10 they wouldn’t already have,” if that customer had disconnected, King said, but he noted that such options would have limited appeal.

“I think you’re talking about a small percentage of the population who’d want to keep a landline to just dial 911, maybe for the elderly population if (they) don’t have a cell phone,” he said.

“If you can’t call anybody back I don’t think you’re talking about a sizable population base it would appeal to,” he said.

Verizon Wireless today announced Friends & Family(R), a new feature that gives customers total control over how they use their plan minutes. Beginning Sunday, Feb. 15, Verizon Wireless customers will be able to identify five or 10 numbers as a Friends & Family calling group. Minutes used when placing or receiving calls to anyone in the calling group will not count against customers’ plan minutes. Customers can even include landline numbers or wireless numbers of those who haven’t yet switched to the nation’s largest, most reliable network. Friends & Family gives customers a flexible way to control their wireless spending and still talk to those individuals who are most significant to them. Changes to the Friends & Family directory are quick, easy and free.

“This is a milestone in the industry,” said Mike Lanman, vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless. “For the first time our customers can take control over their personal calling plans, build it to suit their needs yet still reap the benefits of being on the nation’s most reliable wireless network. And since there are no long distance charges, those numbers can be anywhere in the country. There is no charge to sign up and no charge, ever, to make changes to their Friends & Family calling directory.”

Customers wanting to take advantage of Friends & Family must have a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Single Line plan with 900 or more Anytime Minutes or a Nationwide Family SharePlan(R) with 1,400 or more Anytime Minutes. Customers on an eligible Nationwide Single Line plan, which starts at $59.99 monthly access, may select up to five numbers to add to their Friends & Family directory. Customers on an eligible Nationwide Family SharePlan, starting at$89.99 monthly access for the first two lines, may select up to 10 numbers for their Friends & Family directory to share among account users. Nationwide plans include Unlimited Night & Weekend minutes, no domestic roaming or long distance charges, and access to Mobile Web. Verizon Wireless customers also enjoy unlimited Mobile to Mobile calling with America’s largest calling family of more than 80 million customers.

Existing Verizon Wireless customers can visit www.verizonwireless.com/myverizon to sign up for My Verizon and check their eligibility for Friends & Family. Once a customer makes a change to his or her Friends & Family numbers, the new numbers will be effective the following day. Verizon Wireless expects to offer Friends & Family lines for business customers later this quarter. With this offering, business customers will have the convenience of managing their Friends & Family through the My Business online account management tool.

For more information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or visit www.verizonwireless.com.