Tony Lewis, who heads an initiative within Verizon Wireless to provide access to non-phone devices, said Wednesday that five companies have approached Verizon about wireless connections for e-readers.

“You’re going to see a lot of e-readers out there,” Lewis said. “The interest level is tremendous.”

Lewis said, refusing to confirm if the company had been in touch

AT&T Inc., the second largest wireless carrier after Verizon Wireless, has also been talking to e-reader manufacturers, said Ralph de la Vega, the company’s head of consumer services. Since AT&T’s network is more similar to ones used overseas, it could support international e-book readers, he noted. The Kindle can download books only in the U.S.

Just like Verizon Wireless, AT&T is looking for ways to expand the uses of its wireless network beyond cell phones to generate additional revenue. [via The Associated Press]

Here is a Readius concept designed by Polymer Vision with Telecom Italia logo on it. Now we can imagine how will look the future Verizon and AT&T reader device.

Readius specifications: