Times Ledger Interview on Verizon Fiber FiOS and Competition

The Times Ledger recently ran an article about Verizon’s Fiber FiOS deployments in New York City, in which I was interviewed.

I am very much in favor of any deployments of faster broadband speeds in New York City. We certainly need whatever we can get. Its great that Verizon is building its FiOS system in our backyard.

However, as I talk about in the article, we have to be careful about how and where broadband is deployed:

Dana Spiegel, executive director of NYCwireless, a wireless advocacy group, called fiber optic technology a “double-edged sword.”

He said the replacement of the copper wires to the homes by fiber optic would reduce competition, because of a Federal Communication Commission regulation that requires telecommunications companies to provide universal access for competitors on their copper, but not fiber optic, wires.

“When you remove competition, prices go up,” he said. “There will be no competitive pressure.”

Verizon has chosen a high-income area of New York City to do its first deployment, and they certainly have their reasons for this. We must ensure that FiOS comes to all parts of New York City, to ensure that we don’t create yet another uneven service and set of underprivileged areas.

We also must be careful about ensuring that competition exists in the broadband marketplace. What FiOS brings is an unregulated pipe into our residences and businesses. This means that, especially given past performance, only Verizon will be able to use the FiOS system to provide broadband services. So we have a single vendor on FiOS, a single vendor on Cable, and a phone line that falls into disrepear, preventing the multitude of DSL providers from proving service. FiOS, while promising the next generation of broadband speeds, also brings with it a reduction in broadband competition.

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