Starting in July, Verizon Communications began to experience a significant decrease in the number of new UNE-p lines it provides to competitors, said Doreen Toben, CFO of Verizon Communications, speaking at Morgan Stanley's Ninth Annual Media & Communications Conference in New York. The trend was especially noticeable in the residential market, reflecting AT&T's decision to exit this segment. Verizon currently has a base of 6 million UNE-p lines in service. Toben said the company is increasing its marketing efforts in hopes of winning back these customers.
Toben reaffirmed Verizon's commitment to its FTTP initiative, saying that the company sees huge opportunities for new services and substantial network cost savings through an FTTP infrastructure. However, Toben said the company is still in the very early stages of the project and thus cannot yet financial guidance on how FTTP will affect the company's financial future. Before being able to share the business case for FTTP with investors, Toben said she needs more data on actual installation times, customer take-rates, ARPU, and network operation costs. Verizon remains on track to pass one million homes with its FTTP network this year. The Capital cost for this phase of the project is $800 million. Next year, Verizon is targeting an additional two million homes. Toben promised to carefully scrutinize the business case before deciding whether or not to accelerate the initiative beyond the announced plans.
Verizon Wireless continues to outpace the industry in growth. Toben said the company has been successful in attracting premium customers, thus driving up ARPU. The EVDO launch is moving ahead as planned and further market rollouts are imminent. http://www.verizon.com
- Earlier this summer, Verizon began offering its "Fios" FTTP service in Keller, Texas and other select locations in California and Florida. Verizon "Fios" will consist of three consumer Internet access tiers: 5 Mbps/2 Mbps for $34.95 a month as part of a calling package, or $39.95 a month stand-alone; 15 Mbps/2 Mbps for $44.95 a month as part of a calling package, or $49.95 a month stand-alone ; 30 Mbps/5 Mbps at pricing to be announced later
- Verizon plans a Fios video offering to give consumers an alternative to cable TV in 2005.
