5G: The Wireline-Wireless Bait & Switch: Because It Makes Them More Money
What AT&T & Verizon Tell Investors But Are Hiding from the Public.
THREE PARTS:
INTRODUCTION
Let us be very clear. Verizon and AT&T have one goal: Make more profits for their investors by removing all regulations and obligations. They have demonstrated that they do not care about the customers, the cities or the state telecommunications utilities that they control. In fact, they claim that they are now ‘wireless first’ entertainment and media companies and there are no state telecommunications utilities anymore.
AT&T’s end goal, as stated by Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s CEO, July 24, 2018, is to be a “modern media company”.
“It was an exciting quarter for AT&T as we completed the acquisition of Time Warner on June 14 and created a modern media company built around premium content, 170 million direct-to-customer relationships, advertising technology and high-speed networks.”
Over the last two decades, what are now AT&T and Verizon decided that instead of maintaining and upgrading the state utility, copper-based networks to fiber-optics, they would force customers, especially in more rural areas, onto wireless service, even to be the primary broadband and video service at home — because wireless service is more profitable.
But there is a deep, dark secret: Wireless isn’t that profitable. The companies have been able to manipulate the FCC cost accounting rules that allocates expenses into the different lines of business so that the wired state utilities would end up with the majority of ALL expenses and this made the networks appear unprofitable on paper — on purpose.
Moreover, Verizon’s fiber optic FiOS, or the wires to the cell sites, as well as Business Data Services, are ALL part of the state utilities and they have been able to put the majority of their construction budgets into Local Service. Worse, Verizon Wireless pays a fraction of the ‘access fees’ to use the utility networks and other expenses. This was all used as an excuse to not upgrade whole parts of the US, raise local rates, and save billions on taxes.
Thus, at every turn possible, the companies have been able to pull one bait-and-switch after another bait-and-switch. In some states, Verizon was able to close down the actual commitments for fiber upgrades to offer wireless as a replacement, such as NJ and PA, even though customers paid billions for a fiber optic replacement of the existing copper utility networks. AT&T, in its merger conditions, claimed they would have 22 states with broadband, with 15% with wireless. But, as their own statements show, about 20–25% were never upgraded. And in various ‘technology transitions’, AT&T claimed that wireless is the equivalent and a substitute for the wires, such as the AT&T IP Transition trial, which failed miserably. Meanwhile, in Boston, Massachusetts, and in other states, Verizon claimed that they are doing fiber to the home, but appear to be using these budgets for fiber-to-the-wireless antenna, with the funds coming out of the state wired utility and charged to local phone customers.
Why should we examine the record of what Verizon and AT&T have been telling the investors now? The FCC has been on a path to help AT&T and Verizon by creating, over the last year, 30+ different interlocking actions in just two proceedings. And while the FCC et al. claim that with 5G Wireless there will be no need for wired services, unfortunately, 5G requires a wire every city block or two. But most importantly, the FCC is not examining the cross-subsidies of 5G with the state wired utilities.
Let’s Let Verizon and AT&T Executives Speak for Themselves.
PART 2: VERIZON
PART 3: AT&T
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