The telecommunications market is getting bigger, at least for companies on the right side of the technology, said Lawrence T. Babbio Jr., Vice Chairman & President of Verizon, speaking at the Merrill Lynch Global Communications Investor Conference in New York. Babbio said the Verizon continues to deliver on its business plan and will move aggressively to establish a leadership position in key growth areas. These include:
- Broadband — where there has been “good” subscriber growth in January and February. The company is upgrading the MSN service it provides to its users. It also getting ready to launch a VoIP service for its DSL customers in Q2.the trend of consumer service bundling continues to build.
- FTTP — where fiber access could enable a whole range of new services, such as videoconferencing at 2 Mbps; file sharing at 3 Mbps; multiplayer gaming at 5 Mbps; telemedicine at 8 Mbps; real-time video at 10 Mbps; Hi-def video at 19 Mbps; and network hosted software at 25 Mbps.
- Packet Voice technology — in addition to the consumer broadband VoIP service coming in Q2, Verizon will launch a premium QoS-enabled Voice over DSL service in Q4. The company is eventually planning for local switch replacements using packet technology.
- Wireless Broadband — Verizon is committed to a “first-mover advantage” using EV-DO and its CDMA network to delivers 300- 500 kbps services.
On the regulatory front, Babbio said Verizon is pleased with the recent DC Court ruling, especially with regard to broadband rules. He said the FCC should not appeal the UNE-p to the Supreme Court, arguing that this would only hamper investment in network facilities. He also restated Verizon’s plea for the FCC to act quickly to clarify that there will be no unbundling obligations for FTTP deployments.
Verizon’s CAPEX for 2004 is estimated at $12 to 13 billion, compared to $11.9 billion in 2003. Spending for wireline initiatives will be flat at $6.5 to $7.0 billion, while wireless spending will rise to the $5.0 to $5.5 billion range due to the EV-DO rollout.
Verizon’s workforce numbered 138,000 at the end of 2003, compared with 195,000 at the end of 2000. http://www.verizon.com