Verizon's Seidenberg Pushes for Strong National Broadband Policy To Spur Deployment of High-Speed Internet Services

WASHINGTON - Ivan Seidenberg, president
and co-CEO of Verizon Communications, today told an industry group that America
must have a strong national broadband policy to spur investment in and deployment
of high-speed Internet services to all consumers.

Seidenberg told Computer and Communications Industry Association executives
that it is "deadly" to apply rules written for traditional voice services to
new broadband technology.

"Real technology industries don't work this way," Seidenberg said. "While
we're busy looking in the rear-view mirror, new forms of competition, spurred
by convergence and the Internet platform, are preparing to change the face of
the market."

"If we do this right, the communications and computer industries will continue
to advance and grow together, fueled by the mutually reinforcing relationship
between increasingly robust platforms and ever-more inventive applications."

Seidenberg said that's why Verizon is supporting the Tauzin-Dingell bill and
arguing for a broadband policy for the 21st century.

"It's the right policy for America, but only if we have the incentives to
benefit from our own investment," he said.

Seidenberg told executives that while consumer demand for new services and
higher speeds is as strong as it has ever been, the broadband revolution is
not spreading fast enough.

"New technology is a challenge," Seidenberg said. "In an era of rapid technological
change, companies will not always make the right choices. In fact, in its early
years the computer industry saw almost a 100 percent mortality rate among the
early leaders in personal computing and software applications until a second
generation of companies figured out how to do it right.

"And even when you do bet on the right technology horse, delivering it to
the marketplace successfully is another matter. It takes the right business
model to stay in this game for the long haul."

Seidenberg said despite the perception that the investment boom is over, Verizon
is still making enormous capital investments in infrastructure to optimize our
networks to deliver the services customers want.

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Read
Mr. Seidenberg's speech to the CCIA

Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) is one of the world's leading providers of
communications services. Verizon companies are the largest providers of wireline
and wireless communications in the United States, with 112 million access line
equivalents and 27 million wireless customers. Verizon is also the largest directory
publisher in the world. A Fortune 10 company with approximately 260,000 employees
and more than $65 billion in annual revenues, Verizon's global presence extends
to 40 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. For more information
on Verizon, visit www.verizon.com.