Liberals are going to jump all over this! Boston Globe is reporting that Verizon is rolling out its state-of-the-art FIOS-fiber networks in mostly white, and rich communities, especially in Massachusetts. US Representative Edward J. Markey, a Democrat, calls this ‘’broadband redlining” Of the 24 Boston area suburbs where Verizon fiber is snaking through the streets, 3 rank among US’s 50 wealthiest communities. ‘’It’s really a combination of two things,” Verizon spokesman Jack Hoey told the Globe. ‘’One is on the demand side. Where are there good markets? The other is efficiency and the cost of deploying, which generally is lower in the suburbs.” Similar charges of broadband bias have been leveled at SBC as well, for its selective broadband rollout in Chicago and surrounding suburbia.
This is clearly the other side of the coin to the whole leave the network building to the for-profit corporations.
On a completely unrelated note, these same rich white communities tend to have poor cell coverage thanks to NIMBY atitudes about towers. It’s just lucky Verizon already has the right of ways to string its fiber, otherwise I’m not sure FIOS would ever get off the ground. Wanting broadband at home doesn’t prevent people from wanting to not be inconvienced by work crews blocking lanes.