Verizon (NYSE: VZ) insists that despite recent reports it has no plans today or in the future to limit the amount of bandwidth that its FiOS customers use every month.
The service provider found itself clarifying its point after the Huffington Post published a story where Verizon's CEO and Chairman Lowell McAdam sought to clarify the telco's position on net neutrality during an investor's conference.
"I think it is only natural that the heavy users help contribute to the investment to keep the web healthy," McAdam said.
When asked about McAdam's comment, Verizon spokesman Edward McFadden told the Huffington Post that "some who stream a lot of movies and use data-intensive applications may pay a bit more."
McFadden clarified in a blog post that it has no intention of imposing limits on the amount of bandwidth consumers can use.
"Verizon's fiber to the home high-speed broadband network, FiOS, doesn't cap usage in any way," wrote McFadden. "But I noted that, in general, the usage-based pricing model also already is in use nowadays. As an example, I noted: "But as you know, wireless customers already pay for the data they use. Some who stream a lot of movies and use data-intensive applications may pay a bit more, those who don't pay less."
That's not to say the telco won't penalize heavy users.
In 2013, about 45 of its more than 6.1 million users were warned in a letter that they were using "excessive" amounts of bandwidth. However, this group represents a very small amount of its user base that uses over 10 terabytes a month.
FiOS continues to be a major factor in Verizon's wireline portfolio.
In Q4 2013, the telco added 126,000 net new FiOS connections and 92,000 FiOS video connections. It ended the quarter with a total of 6.1 million FiOS Internet and 5.3 million FiOS video subscribers, up 11.9 and 11.3 percent year-over-year, respectively.
For more:
- see this blog post
- Huffington Post has this article
Related articles:
Verizon's FiOS drives up Q4 consumer wireline revenues to $3.8B
Verizon bucks Q3 seasonal trend as FiOS drives wireline revenues to $3.7B
Verizon's McAdam: FiOS drives up consumer wireline margins