operators with cable-modem service. They have similar density and demographic
situations. Verizon has a little more aerial plant, which allows for less costly FTTP
construction, but otherwise, the two companies encounter mostly the same net-
work, policy, and market factors.
Yet Verizon has committed to FTTP, with plans to spend about $20 billion from
2003 to 2010, and AT&T has committed to FTTN, with plans to spend about
$7 billion. In this case, the element noted as “executive commitment” is important.
It is a matter of how the top officers have weighed the risks associated with FTTP
and FTTN investments—risks of not achieving timely payback criteria vs the risks
of investing in a lower-capacity facility that may require costly upgrades, possibly ...