[BC] Verizon in old rival territories

[Edwin Bukont]

In fairness to Verizon, they may not be to blame for issues of aging infrastructure in former 'rural' GTE, Contel (CanTel) etc territory.  Jimmy Carter, the wonderful man of the people Democrat looking out for the poor, and Judge Green, the wonderful socialist, specified that under the divestiture plan, in order to avoid 'hardship' to rural customers, that any successor companies such as the new RBOCs had to maintain the plant and fee structure as is in those areas.  I believe the period was for 25 years.  In other words, Verizon cannot upgrade the network in any way that might mean customers have to change equipment, see changes to their bills (including how their bills look) or otherwise be at a 'disadvantage' for being in a rural area.  This also means that Verizon cannot roll out new tarriffed services (which might require new infrastructure)  in many such areas but must attempt to maintain existing legacy services and legacy infrastructure, even if such is antiquated and not longer supported by manufactuers.  Ironically, that does not preclude Verizon from rolling out a new non-tarrifed  (in so far as diverstiture is concerned) service such as parallel fiber plant to essentially compete with its decaying copper network.

 

Dont tell me about the tax we pay to maintain the rural system.  Its among the most useless taxes because it specifies the maintenance of legacy plant and does not allow for upgrades.  It ensures the public will always have rural POTS service and nothing more.

 

Speaking of wonderful socialists, one should look at the history of dentistry in England before adopting their model for national health care.  MSN/Slate has a nice article about it.

 

Edwin Bukont CSRE, DRB, CBNT 
V- 240.417.2475; F- 240.368.1265