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| Historic 100% of New York City |
| Written by Dave Burstein |
| Thursday, 13 November 2008 00:00 |
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Verizon has made 'a historic concession' by agreeing to pass every home in the city, ...What Verizon is building for New York is one of the very best networks in the world” Dave Burstein, NY Times, my hometown paper September, 2001 Larry Babbio, Verizon President, spoke about the possibility Verizon would fiber New York as their contribution to recovery after the Trade Center attack. He made no commitment, but said "Just watch what we will do." They have now agreed to offer FIOS to all 3.1M New York families by 2014. There is absolutely no subsidy involved, and Verizon will pay the standard 5% fee for access to the streets, etc. This is historic. Korea Telecom has promised 100 megs to "villages as small as 20 homes" but I know of no other large city in the West committed universal service at high speeds. In many areas, not even slow broadband is available to far too many. For example, Verizon's last figure left 10% of New York City without DSL. Will BT do London similarly? Right now, they are refusing while negotiating for government money. Madrid? Chicago, Houston, Toronto, Las Vegas? Let's hope this becomes a precedent. |