Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg says video, not voice, will be the core product over his expanding fiber network.
He told a Goldman Sachs conference yesterday that he no longer worried about looking the “inflection point” in the loss of access lines.
“I don't care about that any more, I am going to focus on driving FiOS penetration and taking costs out,” he said, adding that he felt “liberated”.
He said capital spending would fall in the next two years, and the company was shedding “non-strategic” rural units. He expected the FiOS network would stretch to 70% of Verizon’s fixed-line customer base.
He said that with TV, the PC and the internet converging, the carrier’s future would be in selling video services, such as interactive TV, bundled with wireless voice.
“So what I need to do is get ourselves focused around the following idea, that video is going to be the core product in the fixed line business. We are going to bundle it with wireless, we are going to integrate software over all the screens.”
The ability to offer make TV interactive, as well as offer high-definition channels, was “a huge opportunity. That is the reason why our focus has been fewer lines on a much higher potency platform to take to the customer.”
“I have never been more confident that I can see the end of the tunnel,” he said.