Verizon Delaware: Infrastructure Development 1993-2002
17 July 2003
By Dr. William Taylor with former NERA Consultant Jaime D'Almeida
This report evaluates the development of Verizon Delaware's network over the past ten years and compares it to the infrastructure development and broadband penetration among 48 former Bell Operating Companies (BOCs) during the same period. The study is based on a comprehensive analysis of publicly available statistics provided by the Automated Reporting Management System (ARMIS), a reporting system established by the FCC to collect detailed financial and operational data from the nation's largest telecommunications carriers.
The authors ranked the BOCs in each state based on nine indices. Each reflects the status of the carrier's network technology. Criteria measurements range from the use of digital switches to the termination of fiber cable at customer locations. NERA's analyses of FCC data reveal a steady pattern of technological enhancements in the Verizon Delaware network over the past decade, as well as a dramatic improvement in the company's overall standing in network technology compared with other major telecommunications carriers.
Since the initial year of the study, in which Verizon Delaware ranked 15th (out of 48), the authors find that the company has assumed a leadership position, ranking among the top three carriers in each of the past seven years. The company most recently ranked second in 2002. The report also finds that, between 1993 and 2002, Verizon Delaware improved its network faster than the average Bell Operating Company in (1) the ratio of fiber strands to copper pairs terminated at the Central Office or Main Frame, (2) the ratio of fiber digital carrier equipped channels to copper equipped channels, and (3) the ratio of fiber sheath kilometers to copper sheath kilometers.
