Verizon Doubles Down On Bogus Claim Title II Will Kill Broadband Investment
from the Title-II-hurts-puppies dept
We've noted repeatedly that the broadband industry's claims that Title II reclassification will hurt broadband network investment just aren't supported by the facts. Title II, which governs the vocal components of wireless networks, certainly didn't hurt Verizon's effort to become the biggest, most profitable wireless carrier in the country, nor did it stop wireless carriers from spending $45 billion on spectrum at the latest FCC auction. It also certainly didn't hurt Verizon when it asked to have FiOS classified under Title II to nab tax breaks. Apparently forgetting there were other people around, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo was even quoted last December as stating Title II won't impact investment patterns in the slightest.However, as anybody knows, when you're proven wrong time and time and time again, the only sensible thing to do is to dig a deeper hole and double down on your bluff. With billions in potential revenue thwarted by real net neutrality rules, Verizon appears to be doing just that.
Shammo apparently got the memo that admitting the truth is a big no no, so the CFO came out firing during the company's latest earnings conference call. Shammo now insists that everything he's said previously before Congress and in the media has been "misquoted," and Title II will most definitely hurt Verizon's network investment strategy:
"I would emphasize also that the approach in whole or in part on Title II is an extreme and risky path that will jeopardize our investment and the development of innovation in Broadband Internet and related services."Except as Verizon's own history shows, there's really nothing risky about Title II with forbearance from heavier regulations, unless you're a company looking to use gatekeeper power to make an extra buck. Still, Shammo just can't help himself, and raises the ante further by insisting that this lack of investment will "trickle down" and hurt jobs:
"If we could curtail the investment of this industry, it will definitely trickle down to what we would consider middle-class jobs. And it’s because most of at least, for Verizon Wireless, a lot of our build are done by thousands of contractors across the United States, that will impact those small business and impact their employees."Except again, if the "trickle down" claim didn't tip you off, that's a bluff. Verizon's not going to simply stop investing in its network with T-Mobile (and maybe even Google wireless) nipping at the company's heels, though I'm sure those companies wish it would. Shammo proceeded to proclaim that Title II-based neutrality rules would most certainly lead to lawsuits, which if you think about it is a truly Nostradamus-grade prediction when you're the one doing the suing. In short, Verizon's going to stick to its lie that Title II hurts puppies, causes tears in the time/space continuum, and is horribly unpatriotic -- whether we all like it or not.
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Filed Under: broadband, fran shammo, investment, net neutrality, title ii
Companies: verizon
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Investments
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Re: Investments
The only thing preventing all-out competition in the Wireless spectrum is... the spectrum monopolies. Verizon got a HUGE chunk of that, so there's not much reason for them to be impacted by Title II unless they're planning to do something dodgy to the customers at a significant profit.
What I'd like to see is transmission services be separated from the actual cellular providers, who would lease bandwidth from the transmission services. Kind of what it looks like Google is planning to do.
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well it does hurt monopolies and that's unpatriotic.
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Re:
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Their investment involves the following:
Putting out a press release $ X00.00 - $ X,000.00
Moving some equipment and people to the proposed area $ X,000 - $ X0,000 per day
Looking like you are doing something for a few weeks $ (X,000 - $ X0,000) * 28 days
Scamming the people in an area for years to come $ priceless
Half heartedly doing something is tough, for everything else there are lobbyists.
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"our investment" meaning "Verizon's investment"
so?
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If verizon hates title II
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Re: If verizon hates title II
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Re: Re: If verizon hates title II
There are other reasons not to have the federal government owning communications infrastructure (I'm not sure I want to make surveillance easier) but, maintainance probably shouldn't be one of them.
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Re: Re: If verizon hates title II
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Mr. Shammo better hope Title II doesn't affect Verizon's stock prices. Otherwise his company my have a lawsuit on it's hands for misleading investors.
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What they really mean...
Due to stiffer competition, they'll have to invest more heavily in order to retain their customer base - or allow someone else to eat that lunch.
Or maybe they'll just give up and focus on wireless (until that finally earns better regulation as well)... we can only hope. I'd love to see a bunch of newcomers in the market start taking over the wireline infrastructure and do something useful with it.
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How can it kill it?
It is almost as if they see Title II is incoming, and their plan is to wait until after and then claim it is just "too expensive to continue their upgrade". Keep whining in some attempt to get the american people to think they are right that Title II was the wrong move.
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I bet after the stop all consumer FIOS footprint expansion they will turn around and claim to be investing in FIOS in spite of the current situation, when they are actually just wiring up their own equipment with fiber and claiming tax breaks and other credits.
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