In the past, Verizon lobbyists have left the option of a metered plan open, prefacing it [...]]]>

No sooner than the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) talked up formalizing Net Neutrality policy than did Verizon CTO Dick Lynch appear a week later and talked smack about metered bandwidth options. Hmm, could these items be related? Hmm…

In the past, Verizon lobbyists have left the option of a metered plan open, prefacing it with the thought of “We don’t need it since FiOS just slays cable company infrastructure.”    The party line out of Verizon last week was “We can’t continue to grow the internet without passing along the cost to someone” and the idea floated about at the Fiber-to-The-Home conference was a tiered approach with people paying more for the amount of bandwidth they consume per month.

Currently, Verizon DSL and FiOS customers pay a flat rate per month for the speed they get delivered to their home, paying much more for the very highest tier of service than the entry level and mid-range speeds.

For those of us with gray hair, this isn’t the first time Verizon has invoked the idea of paying per byte.  It has come up with dial-up and mobile broadband, so this not really “new.  But the current crazy talk is Verizon’s way of signaling its discomfort with the FCC’s latest proposals.

One also might wash to consider the potential for anti-trust considerations if Verizon and the cable companies introduced tiered pricing at the same time net neutrality legislation came into the fore.

The transaction is expected to return around $8.6 billion to Verizon and its shareholders as Verizon continues to “transform its growth profile” (i.e. shed parts of its business that aren’t making money [...]]]>

Verizon is selling off its wireline operations in predominantly rural areas across 14 states to Frontier.  Ba-be, we can hear you now…

The transaction is expected to return around $8.6 billion to Verizon and its shareholders as Verizon continues to “transform its growth profile” (i.e. shed parts of its business that aren’t making money so fast) and focus on wireless, FiOS, and global IP networks. As CEO Ivan Seidenberg pointed out in Verizon’s press release, ” All of Verizon’s remaining local landline operations have high concentrations of FiOS in more densely populated markets.  We believe our focus on reshaping our asset base will drive higher growth over time and improve long-term returns.”

As a part of the deal, the company is transferring over around 110,000 FiOS Internet customers and 69,000 FiOS TV customers, so it will be interesting to see how the numbers are juggled for FiOS growth moving forward.  Assets transferring over to Frontier include Verizon’s switched and special access lines in the affected areas, as well as its Internet service and long-distance voice accounts.  Also included are fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) assets (i.e. FiOS) deployed by Verizon in 41 local franchises and the state of Indiana, which pass approximately 600,000 homes and small businesses.  Frontier will continue to provide video services in these areas after the completion of the merger.

NOT included in the deal are anything involving Verizon Wireless, Verizon Business, Verizon Federal or anything that says Business in the title.  Verizon Business will purchase local services from Frontier in order to serve existing customers.

Approximately 11,000 Verizon company employees  are being transferred over and are expected to continue to be with Frontier after the merger.  Verizon is touting Frontier as a reliable partner (gotta sell the deal to the shareholders, since they’re getting Frontier stock) that has successfully acquired, operated, and invested rural telecom propers, including landline assets purchased from Verizon between ’93 and 2000.  Operations Frontier is getting from Verizon include all of Verizon’s local wireline operating territories in Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin annnnd a small number of Verizon’s exchanges in California, including those bordering Arizona, Nevada and Oregon.