PolicyBlog

While the fabled Dr Dave Farber was in Washington, DC,  Link and I we able to get some time with him and capture video of our conversation.  It was a beautiful Fall afternoon in our Nation‘s capital so we had the conversation in Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House. Dr. Farber is very clear about his views on net neutrality regulations, calling instead for “principles” and monitoring because of the complexity of the global network.  He also says that attempts to rope wireless... Read More

I read through Harvard’s Berkman Center report which was led by Yochai Benkler.  Okay, it was 232 pages so I “mostly read through it” to paraphrase a famous movie “The Princess Bride” (see it – there is a great scene where the hero is “only mostly dead”.)   I did read the substantive analysis at the beginning (over 100 pages) and skipped only some of the country reports. Benkler and his team of investigators can be commended for the effort that went into what was no doubt a substantial... Read More

Our CEO, Ivan Seidenberg, gave a keynote speech today at the Supercomm conference.   Ivan gave an overview of the industry’s performance and our investment and product strategy at a high level and I thought he raised some interesting facts both as to where we are in the industry and the potential for the future. Some of his key points: “Four years ago, I stood on this stage and talked about how fiber and 3G mobile were transforming broadband and wireless.  Three years ago, we talked about how... Read More

Our guest blogger today is David E. Young, Vice President, Verizon Federal Regulatory Affairs.  See the end of the post for his impressive bio - CZ.There seems to be some confusion around Verizon’s filing suggesting that the FCC keep a baseline definition for broadband as 768 kbps down and 200 kbps up. The implication here is that we want to keep the speed set low so we won’t have to upgrade our networks.   From where we stand, this is clearly absurd. Verizon is deploying the country’s most... Read More

The Changing World of Video and Old Business Models The main point in Henry Blodget’s piece is that the traditional broadcast, advertising supported video distribution model is dead and traditional content distributors (cable companies but also telcos) will have to change their business models.  Content providers will go directly to the consumer via the Internet.  Content providers will no longer have to go to cable companies to negotiate distribution agreements.   If they don’t change their... Read More

If there was any doubt that the role of broadband in American life is at a tipping point, consider this:  Home buyers are more interested in whether a home has an all-fiber-optic Internet hookup than whether there’s a community pool. Or a daycare center.  Or a nearby convenience store. In new surveys just reported, even people who have never had a fiber link rank an ultra-fast connection tops out of five key options. This news tells us two things: First, Internet hookups really matter inside... Read More

Ivan Seidenberg had a wide ranging discussion on the Charlie Rose Show recently about Verizon, his vision for the company, and his views on everything from the role broadband and wireless networks play in societal change to policy issues like net neutrality.  I am biased I admit but I believe Ivan covers most of the major issues in our industry and provides a view of the future as he sees it for the communications industry. I am not surprised by the vision and understanding Ivan exhibits... Read More

If you’ve been a Verizon FiOS Internet customer for the past several years, you know that we’ve continued to offer you faster speeds.  In 2004 when we launched FiOS Internet, our entry level download speed was 5 Mbps, and the upload speed was 2 Mbps.  Fast forward to June 2008, when we made 50/20 Mbps available to all FiOS customers. There’s no doubt we’ve transformed the market for high-speed broadband services in the United States, and cable has had to play catch-up.  Yet cable’s response has... Read More

There is a lot of criticism on many fronts with regard to the broadband industry. In fact, when I attended a recent Free Press event, I heard many comments about the failure of the market place and the lack of competition. A new survey released today by the Pew Center, however, suggests that the industry is doing very well on a number of levels.   Not all is perfect, but on the whole, the glass is very much more full than empty.   The new report is based on a survey conducted of Americans... Read More