Looking At Verizon's Fiber Claims

from the blinded-by-the-light dept

Verizon has been getting a lot of press lately about their fiber to the home (or, as everyone likes to say these days "to the premise") plans. The latest was the news about the surprisingly low pricing that they planned, which the press lapped up quickly. Over at Broadband Reports, however, where they've been tracking Verizon's fiber promises for some time, they wonder if the press is being "blinded by the light" coming from Verizon's fiber announcements. They point to over a decade of Verizon (and pre-Verizon components) promises about delivering fiber to the home, none of which have actually come true. On top of that, they point to an Om Malik analysis that suggests the math on Verizon's fiber announcements doesn't add up. For all the work they're doing installing fiber, their primary supplier had a disastrous quarter. Meanwhile, another analysis notes that the cost per customer of the fiber installation is a somewhat ridiculous $1,360. While it is to be expected that early customers will be more costly to reach and acquire, that's still quite a lot of money when you want to charge $35/month for service. Broadband Reports suggests that these Verizon announcements are mainly designed to keep regulators off their backs, and notes the case of New Jersey, where Verizon has announced its cutting back its fiber deployments until the state reconsiders its decision to set the rates at which Verizon needs to lease its lines to other carriers. In other words, it all sounds good, but you probably shouldn't expect to be surfing the light fantastic via Verizon any time soon.