[Discuss] Competition of broadband

[Richard Pieri]

On Dec 4, 2011, at 7:49 PM, Bill Horne wrote:
> 
> Two words: time and materials.
> 
> Verizon won't compete with Comcast for broadband, because they'd have to complete their network with today's labor rates.

Say what?!  Verizon has been very aggressively pushing FiOS.  Perhaps not everywhere, but definitely in some of Comcast's strongest markets.

Cities like Boston already have the fibre trunks.  The only work that needs to be done is to connect residences to the trunks.  In most cases, Verizon pays the communities for the privilege of making those connections in addition to footing the bill for the runs, sometimes regardless of households actually subscribing.  Case in point, Verizon paid my condo complex $150 per unit times 334 units just for the privilege of running fibre to each unit, and Verizon paid 100% of the cost of actually running all that fibre.  This all within the past year.  All that I've paid for out of pocket is for the tech to do the interior installation, wire up the ONT and configure the cable box.

Boston and Somerville keep saying "no" to FiOS because of Comcast's think-of-the-community lobbying and the threat of renegotiated franchise fees reducing the Cities' revenue.  That's the real bottom line, and it's the origin of my subsidiaries quip.

--Rich P.