Catherine McLean had an article in Saturday’s Globe and Mail about the Verizon FiOS gamble, betting the company on fibre to the home (FTTH), as contrasted with the approach of most other telcos to build fibre to the node (FTTN) and use traditional copper wiring to enter the home.
While Bell Canada has its own satellite service to deliver TV, there is still a race for interactive service speeds. With Videotron’s 100Mbps service trial announced this week, the telcos are racing to catch up to the cable companies.
So far, Verizon is the only major North American carrier to commit to as high a fibre content in its diet – uniquely positioning it to surpass the cable speeds demonstrated last week by Videotron. Do the capital markets have the appetite to fund any others?