Verizon owns 55% of Verizon Wireless. Vodafone owns the other 45% share. Verizon wants the Vodafone share, but Vodafone doesn't plan to give it up. Their joint effort towards LTE more than solidifies their partnership for the near-distant future. Keep in mind that it was less than 3 years ago that Vodafone was looking into buying a majority stake in the company and a bit more than a year ago that Verizon was looking at buying out Vodafone's stake in their love-child. The partnership won't be heading South any time soon.