Verizon: 30% or More of Our Users Will Never Get FiOS

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by Karl Bode

Wednesday May 07 2014 12:38 EDT

Meaningful expansion of Verizon's FiOS services has been on hold for years now -- outside of existing franchise obligations like New York City, and even those appear to be seeing nowhere near the kind of penetration Verizon hinted at. For years Verizon executives have had sort of a "wait and see" response when asked about possible expansion, but Verizon CFO Fran Shammo this week provided the strongest indication yet that FiOS have nots should not be holding their breath.

"We'll continue to fulfill our FiOS LFAs (franchise agreements) we will complete (the FiOS deployment) with about 19 million homes passed," Shammo told attendees of the Jefferies 2014 Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference this week in Miami. "That will cover about 70 percent of our legacy footprint; 30 percent we're not going to cover," stated Shammo.

That 19 million homes "passed" doesn't necessarily mean served, meaning the number of Verizon customers that can't get FiOS could be significantly higher than 30%. That 30% obviously doesn't include the millions of users already sold to companies like Frontier and Fairpoint.

"We will continue to harvest that copper network and those customers and keep them as long as we can but we will not be building FiOS out to those areas," Shammo said of those unfortunate 30%. By "keep them as long as we can," Shammo actually means getting rid of them as soon as possible. Given consumer protections in many states, Verizon's been making a very clear effort to drive many of those users to cable or wireless via DSL rate hikes or by forcing them to sign up for an unwanted copper POTS line.

Verizon's seeing a significant slowdown in the uptick of new customers as the market saturates and Verizon refuses to expand, though Shammo told attendees he blames that on the "harsh winter" in the Northeast.

tags: Video · competition · business · bandwidth · cable · consumers · Verizon FiOS · Verizon DSL

Most recommended from 131 comments

Zenit_IIfx The system is the solution Premium Member join:2012-05-07 Purcellville, VA ·Comcast XFINITY 6 recommendations	Zenit_IIfx Premium Member 2014-May-7 1:54 pm Oh the money! VZ is terrible. They will in the end be the only ILEC that decides to not upgrade a single thing and let 30-60% of their network rot on the poles (decades old Copper not maintained, with DLSAMs from the 1990s). The end game here is to drive everyone into the arms of Cable (gentleman's agreement with Comcast whom servs most of VZs landline footprint) and drive the rural customers onto the overpriced 4G LTE services. I read reports that shortly after VZ sold off their POTS networks in New England to Fairpoint, DSL speeds suddenly got higher - just a little bit of investment can squeeze a bit more life out of the copper, if it was not wrecked due to ingress of water. (Yes I know that newer cable has Goop, but if the splices get exposed...) Frontier is in rougher shape, as they got VZs really abandoned areas (W. VA for example - both ex-GTE and ex-Bell were in rough shape). VZ signed contracts with state PUCs that will never be fulfilled, took advantage of grant money and raised our phone rates promising a modern network that will NEVER happen. AT&T and CenturyLink have done similar, but not to the extent of VZ. This whole mess with obtaining a modern telecom network for the next century is why I am convinced that the 1984 breakup of Ma Bell actually spawned a monster. The old System was technology focused - releasing groundbreaking technology and upgrading the network on a regular basis. The principle of Universal Service was followed. And we broke it up, rather than re-regulating it for the future - for what? Long Distance competition? Could have forced that on the system and kept it intact. Today? VZ CFO: Oh the money! So wonderful. I love 4g. Wire bad. 4g good. ohhhhhh -rolls around in piles of money- VZ Engineering: Sir, our networks are failing - customers are defecting and we have no budget to do anything. VZ CFO: Just duct tape/trash bag it. Remember, Bag on Strand policy. VZ Engineering: This wont last. VZ CFO: Who cares, its cheap. Wires are not LTE. LTE is great. I love LTE. OOOOH LTE. -rubs face with Samsung Galaxy S5, then snorts ground up $100 bills- -the next day- VZ CEO: I HATE CLUTTER. CLUTTER IS WRONG. THROW OUT ALL SPARE PARTS AND UNUSED MATERIALS. VZ Engineering: But we need that to take care of the network. We hoard equipment as you wont let us buy any! VZ CEO: THROW IT AWAY! NOW! I LIKE CLEAN CENTRAL OFFICES!!! THEY PROPAGATE LTE BETTER. VZ Engineering: That isn't true. CEO: Throw out that old junk or I fire you all and replace you with subcontractors from Zimbabwe. (This actually happened - VZ was caught throwing out dumpsters full of new equipment - splice cases, pedestals, fiber, copper, ONTs, line cards....insane! The Zimbabwe part did not though. ) Only in Murika, right guys?
	actions · 2014-May-7 1:54 pm · (locked)
buzz_4_20 join:2003-09-20 Dover, NH 2 recommendations	buzz_4_20 Member 2014-May-7 12:53 pm You'd Think They would want more customers. I guess the high profit margins of Wireless are deafening.
	actions · 2014-May-7 12:53 pm · (locked)

Most recommended from 131 comments

Oh the money!

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