Without Verizon Wireless, the value of the old Verizon — the giant telephone company that provides dial-tone service as well as Internet and fiber optic TV to millions of customers — is vanishingly small.
The sale is part of Verizon's continued efforts to shed its traditional landline phone service, and instead concentrate on upgrading customers to newer FiOS fiber optic TV, Internet and phone service.
Verizon built its Fios fiber optic TV and Internet network in nine states but stopped expanding into new markets in 2010, in part because of high installation costs.
The company added 233,000 subscribers to its FiOS fiber-optic TV service, while losing 96,000 DSL subscribers in the quarter.
Cable, satellite and now fiber-optic TV have long-since outpaced the over-the-air broadcasters in innovation, giving nearly all Americans the option of hundreds of channels of diverse content, on-demand movies and other programming, time-shifting, interactive features and bundled services.
But the two biggest U.S. phone companies are beginning to behave less like partners and more like rivals: AT&T now has 30,000 customers signed up to its competing, Internet-based TV service, and Verizon has signed up about 350,000 customers to its fiber-optic TV service.
Time Warner Cable's campaign reflects dramatic changes taking place in the relationships between program providers and cable system owners -- and to a lesser extent satellite TV and telecommunications companies such as Verizon and AT&T, which have rolled out new fiber-optic TV systems.
Today's earnings release shows Verizon is adding customers, checking churn, and adding market share to its FiOS fiber optic cable TV and internet service, while looking to its Go90 mobile streaming service and other customer solutions to drive revenues in the future.
Both Verizon and CDC leave out whole categories of lines that are part of the state utility, which include alarm services or DSL or Verizon's fiber optic FiOS TV or any business service, like a wire for an ATM cash machine, or the wire to the WiFi hot spot.
AT&T has said that it may reduce investment on U-Verse (fiber optic-based TV and broadband service) if the Federal Communications Commission goes forward with its plan to tighten regulation on broadband providers.
Where does it say that FiOS is NOT the 100% fiber optic network for TV? 10) Why is there a distinction between FiOS and the fiber optic networks?
