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Verizon won't speed up 5G buildout despite FCC preempting local fees
Verizon Wireless says it will not move faster on building its 5G cellular network despite a Federal Communications Commission decision that erased $2 billion dollars' worth of fees for the purpose of spurring faster 5G deployment.
The FCC's controversial decision last month angered both large and small municipalities because it limits the amount they can charge carriers for deployment of wireless equipment such as small cells on public rights-of-way. The FCC decision also limits the kinds of aesthetic requirements cities and towns can impose on carrier deployments and forces cities and towns to act on carrier applications within 60 or 90 days.Ajit Pai slams cities and towns as FCC erases $2 billion in local fees
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai justified the decision by saying it would speed up 5G deployment, and he slammed local governments for "extracting as much money as possible in fees from the private sector and forcing companies to navigate a maze of regulatory hurdles in order to deploy wireless infrastructure."
But in an earnings call last week, Verizon CFO Matt Ellis told investors that the FCC decision won't have any effect on the speed of its 5G deployment. Verizon also said that it is reducing overall capital expenditures—despite a variety of FCC decisions, including the net neutrality repeal, that the FCC claimed would increase broadband network investment. (Verizon posted a transcript of the earnings call here.)
An analyst asked Ellis if the FCC order would "change the sort of internal targets you have for the rollout of the small cell and 5G infrastructure and possibly allow you to go a little faster as you look out to 2019 and 2020."
Ellis responded that the FCC decision "doesn't necessarily increase the velocity that we see." Verizon is "going as fast as we can" already, he said.
Also at ExtremeTech
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 05 2018, @03:10PM (2 children)
Try to remember that tomorrow!
Don't blame Pai for this. You can only blame yourselves for voting for, and worse, constantly reelecting corrupt people that would appoint him. Well, tomorrow you can start the process of repairing the system that your broke yourselves. Let's see if you're up to the challenge, eh? Or is everybody going to keep doing the same old shit, and then complain for the next two years like always?
And another thing! You damn people didn't demand paper ballots! Shame on you! This time around, and probably a few times in the past, the count is highly suspect. The DNC pretty much confirmed it with Clinton's victory in the primary.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday November 05 2018, @06:33PM
Here's the problem: Both major parties agree that they'd rather have easily manipulated electronic voting systems rather than paper ballots in most states: Being able to cheat their way to victory is more important than having election results we can actually trust. The major parties also cooperate to make every effort to prevent anyone who isn't one of them from ever gaining enough power to control policy for an area.
Some other rules to remember:
1. If the Ds are pushing for something with everything they've got and the Rs are trying to stop it with everything they've got, than the Ds favorite donors will make a bundle while the Rs favorite donors will lose money. Reverse if the Rs are pushing for something and the Ds are opposing it.
2. If both the Ds and Rs want something, then both their donors will make out like bandits, probably at the expense of everyone without thousands of dollars to give to campaigns. Stuff in this category usually happens without much fanfare, and is sometimes known as "the consensus in Washington".
3. Anything that is good for everyone but the people with thousands of dollars to give to campaigns will be opposed tooth-and-nail by both the Ds and the Rs.
Emma Goldman was right that if voting could really change anything, it would be illegal. But you might as well take the time to vote anyways, on the off-chance that it makes things a bit less bad.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by Virindi on Monday November 05 2018, @09:50PM
In my state, they went to amazing whizbang touchscreen voting machines a couple years after the 2000 election debacle. But after it became known how terrible those machines were, they once again changed the system. Now (including the 2016 election) all voting is done using "fill in the bubble" paper sheets and a scanner. The touchscreen machines have been decertified.
It is actually more auditable than it was before. Back in the 80s and 90s, they used mechanical tabulation machines. These also had no paper record; you set mechanical switches and then pulled a lever to increment a mechanical tally for your candidates.