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Verizon Blames NYC FiOS Delays on Sandy, Landlords, etc.

Back in 2008 Verizon negotiated a closed-door agreement with NYC mayor Mike Bloomberg that agreed to wire all five boroughs with FiOS by June of 2014 -- sort of. Fine print in the deal allowed Verizon to back away from that promise if they pay a few small fines and/or aren't seeing the kind of TV subscriber uptake they'd like. The language also allowed Verizon to "pass" most of these homes versus actually "serve" them. In short, Verizon signed a deal knowing full well large sections of NYC wouldn't be connected via FiOS.

Fast forward six years and NYC is probably only about half wired with FiOS, and figuring out precisely where Verizon has upgraded is proving difficult because Verizon considers that data competitively sensitive:
quote:
Verizon, based in Manhattan, has declined to provide the city with maps charting the street-by-street progress of its fiber network, citing the intense competition for cable customers. The lack of information about exactly where the service is available has contributed to concerns that the company has focused its "last-mile" deployments (from the street to the home) on upscale neighborhoods and has neglected low-income ones—a charge Bill de Blasio has made both as mayor and previously as public advocate.
Verizon is blaming Sandy, work stoppage, stubborn landlords and other factors for delays, and while those things may have certainly been hurdles, again it's worth noting the company knew full well their deal with Bloomberg allowed them to leave much of the city un-upgraded. Verizon is currently facing criticism for failing to wire New Jersey with fiber in exchange for significant subsidies and tax cuts, something that was also a problem in Pennsylvania.

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CXM_Splicer
Looking at the bigger picture
Premium Member
join:2011-08-11
NYC

6 recommendations

CXM_Splicer

Premium Member

Yeah, right.

As a Verizon worker in NYC, I can tell you there is no rush at all to roll out FIOS... no sense of urgency, no talk of what still needs to be done; hell, we run out of FIOS supplies all the time because they don't want to spend the money for stock. JIT becomes 'we will get to it eventually.' As far as the landlords, I guess there may be some looking for kickbacks but I have landlords, supers, & tennant association members come up to me all the time to complain that they contacted Verizon over a year ago to try and get FIOS to their buildings but are still waiting. I guess all it takes is to hire a good PR firm to make up some lies and your company doesn't really have to DO anything for their end of the bargain.