Verizon Executive Outlines Company’s Message at Dallas Summit

DALLAS, April 27, 2010 - I had a chance to sit down with a busy Eric Cevis, a vice president with Verizon, the official corporate host of the Broadband Properties MAG Summit, an event focusing on fiber-to-the-home and next-generation access technologies for buildings, communities and municipalities. We discussed what he sees as the conference’s main messages.

Cevis, a v.p. of sales and marketing for Verizon Enhanced Communities, says he hopes attendees understand from their visit to the conference that “the network that your laptop, PC or TV are connected to makes a difference whether you are a telecommuter, or a college student working on your degree from home; having the right broadband connection matters.”

Cevis said he used to joke about his wife doing various household chores while waiting for her Internet provider to download graphics for her work projects.  However, new faster services like Verizon’s FiOS have done away with that scenario. It offers 15 megabit per second download and 5 mbps upload speeds. Cevis says Verizon has pioneered the trail for others to follow in FTTH, and it now has approximately 6 million customers.

Cevis also talked about Verizon’s wireless service and the importance it will play in the future with its LTE (Long-Term Evolution) service across its 4G network. He is adamant about the demand for increased bandwidth applications going forward and the need for more wireless spectrum, which the FCC is looking to recapture with its National Broadband Plan. He sees great synergies with its broadband, wireless, TV and phone services over FiOS, while offering the triple and quad service bundles to customers.

Verizon serves over 93 million wireless customers nationwide and provides services to mass markets, business, government and wholesale entities. It also employs a workforce of more than 217,000 and had 2009 consolidated revenues of more than $11 billion.

Stay tuned…more to come from this conference in Dallas.