"When our proposal is fully approved, New York will be the first major city in the nation to break the cable TV monopoly and bring the network of the future to its residents today," Monica Azare, Verizon senior vice president for New York and Connecticut, said in a statement.
Currently only about 20% of the city's residents have access to Verizon's fiber optic network, which has so far only been used for high speed internet connections. These people should have the company's television service available nearly immediately after the franchise agreement is approved by the various parties. From that point on the company will have 8 years, until June 30, 2004, to make the service available to the entire populations of Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island.
“The logistical hurdles are unlike any other city in America,” said Craig Moffett, a telecommunications analyst at brokerage firm Sanford A. Bernstein & Company. “In urban situations, every building is its own engineering problem, so it takes another layer of planning and expense.”
Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 28 May 2008 2:25
