Verizon cuts 2010 FiOS by 2M homes

FCC-Any_resultsVerizon recently confirmed they will add 3M FiOS homes in 2010 but have now cut that to 1M for budget reasons. They implicitly also confirmed they are cutting back future FiOS builds as well by 2-4M homes from the original plans of 80% of homes passed. Verizon to get a New York City and other franchises have promised 100% local deployment, so unless they breach the franchise agreements they will reach 18-19M in a few years. This is consistent with my report that Verizon is cutting expenses to increase cash flow before Ivan Seidenberg's retirement. Ivan says a deal to sell to Vodafone is highly unlikely; I have no way of determining whether he is just playing hard to catch. Ivan personally would likely be ahead by $tens of millions if he sells, a powerful incentive. This is purely speculation; Ivan doesn't open his heart to me.

FiOS remains the best large network in the Western world, so denying it to 10M homes is a major political issue. Baltimore, with a large minority population, is not getting fiber while Maryland suburbs are. Baltimore is literally demonstrating in the street about that. The pattern is repeated, with inner cities and poorer rural areas getting inferior service. Verizon says they are not red-lining based on income but that's the practical effect of their plans. I've asked for, but haven't been given, the demographics of FiOS vs. non-FiOS territories. Unless they release that data, I'm going with Congressman Waxman's analysis they are providing inferior service - literally a tenth the speed - to the poor.

I've also sent a request for comments to the five FCC commissioners and the head of NTIA. D.C. claims they are making progress on broadband, but with this 2M cutback by Verizon following the 4M cutback by AT&T that's hard to accept. Most in D.C. are also ignoring the frequent and massive rate increases dating back to 2007 that are the leading cause of the slow uptake of broadband.Written by Dave Burstein April 2010 11:50


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