[1st-mile-nm] Aspen Summit: Verizon PR

[Richard Lowenberg]

A PR from Verizon:

http://newscenter.verizon.com/press-releases/verizon/2008/verizon-technology-chief.html

Verizon Technology Chief Urges Sound Policy and Industry Cooperation to Continue
High Innovation

Internet Industry and Consumers Best Served by Pragmatic Solutions, He Says

August 19, 2008

ASPEN, Colo. - The information and communications sectors are experiencing one
of the greatest periods of innovation in their history, as entrepreneurs
compete to provide consumers with increased speed, mobility and content over
broadband networks.  But, according to the Verizon senior executive who manages
his company's large investment in networks, future breakthroughs will also
depend upon appropriate public policy, as well as cooperative industry efforts
to set standards.

In a keynote address Tuesday (Aug. 19) at the Progress and Freedom Foundation's
annual Aspen Summit, Verizon Executive Vice President and Chief Technology
Officer Dick Lynch urged a "change in mindset on the part of policymakers to
acknowledge the realities of the 100-megabit world" and suggested that other
industry participants be pragmatic as well.

"The public interest can best be served by getting as much broadband in front of
as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, and ensuring that investment
keeps up with demand," Lynch said.  "To a large extent, this is a matter of
taking down the barriers to investment and refraining from erecting new ones."

As examples, Lynch cited  "removing entry barriers to facilitate investment, as
New York City has recently done in granting a franchise" to Verizon to bring 
FiOS TV to all city residents, and "forming partnerships and revamping the
Universal Service Fund to bring broadband to rural communities."  He compared
these examples with the "over-taxation of innovation, such as we currently see
to a disproportionate degree in the wireless industry."

Lynch said the "high-passion" issue of network management is a "major public
policy concern" that can be resolved in a way that preserves proper network
management techniques.  "We believe that network and applications providers can
and must work together to find solutions that work for the industry and for our
customers," he said, "and Verizon has taken a leadership role in doing just
that."

To that end, Verizon and Pando Networks co-founded the P4P Working Group in
2007. Lynch said the group identified "techniques which, in field tests, have
dramatically reduced network costs and congestion while noticeably improving
the performance of the service to the customer."  He said he expects those
techniques "to be adopted as an Internet standard" and "by all major network
and peer-to-peer providers."

Lynch said the pragmatism displayed in the P4P Working Group's success "offers a
model of the kind of industry cooperation and collaboration that should be used
to address the emerging challenges of the Internet industry."   But he noted
that government has "a legitimate role in helping to define the public
interest, establish principles and adjudicate conflicts."

"Dynamic industries like ours require flexible solutions that can evolve and
adapt to a changing environment - not rigid regulatory solutions that are one
step behind the marketplace," he said.

The title of this year's Aspen Summit - "Unlocking Innovation: Has the Key Been
Misplaced?" - provided Verizon's top engineer the opportunity to showcase a
variety of breakthroughs.  Lynch said broadband investment is up 40 percent
over the last four years, with speeds doubling, on average, every 20 months. 
That new capacity enables "equally amazing advances in applications, services
and equipment," he said.

Verizon's 700 megahertz spectrum purchase, the choice of LTE technology for its
fourth-generation wireless network, its wireless Open Development Initiative,
and the company's superior, FiOS fiber-to-the home network position Verizon as
a market leader, Lynch said.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a leader in
delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations
to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless
operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving nearly 69 million
customers nationwide.  Verizon's Wireline operations include Verizon Business,
which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around
the world, and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of
converged communications, information and entertainment services over the
nation's most advanced fiber-optic network.  A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs
a diverse workforce of more than 228,600 and last year generated consolidated
operating revenues of $93.5 billion.  For more information, visit
www.verizon.com.


-- 
Richard Lowenberg
1st-Mile Institute
P.O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
505-989-9110;   505-603-5200 cell
rl at 1st-mile.com  www.1st-mile.com

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