As Verizon Enters Cable Business, It Faces Local Static

[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Dionne Searcey dionne.searcey@wsj.com]
All over the country, Verizon is squaring off against local governments, as it embarks on a high-stakes upgrade of much of its network. Aiming to offer Internet, phone and television services, Verizon plans to spend up to $20 billion to lay thousands of miles of fiber-optic wires across its East Coast service area from Maine to Florida and into parts of Texas, California and elsewhere. Budget-strapped local officials, who have the final say over granting cable-TV-service franchises, are greeting the phone giant with expensive and detailed demands. The battle is crucial for Verizon, which is rapidly losing its traditional customers in a new telecommunications free-for-all. The rivals include wireless phone companies, cable companies offering low-priced phone service, and Web companies such as Google offering voice services via the Internet. Verizon is betting that its new fiber network, which it dubs "FIOS," will help it turn the tables on competitors. Fellow phone giant SBC Communications is also launching a new video technology. But it is gambling that its Internet-based system won't require approval in each locality. Verizon, which is using a technology similar to cable television, decided it wouldn't risk a big fight with the cities and is seeking approval from each one.
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