Region president cites telecom evolution

Region Verizon president Donna C. Cupelo, a Providence College graduate, discusses the future of telecommunications.
Region Verizon president Donna C. Cupelo, a Providence College graduate, discusses the future of telecommunications.

Donna C. Cupelo



Position: Verizon Region President – Massachusetts/Rhode
Island




Background: Served as Verizon’s local region president since 1997;
spent previous 19 years of career with NYNEX working her way up through sales
and marketing, operations and engineering until becoming the company’s vice
president and general manager in 1995.



Education: MBA from Babson College, Bachelor of Science from Providence
College



Residence: She has homes in Westerly and Franklin, Mass.



Age: 48


Cupelo has been working in the telecom industry since graduating from Providence
College in 1978. Working in sales and marketing for the majority of that time,
she’s enjoyed a career with the same company in a variety of forms, as the breakup
of Ma Bell saw New England Telephone become NYNEX, which later became Bell Atlantic,
which later became Verizon.




As the company’s chief executive in the area, her primary responsibility is
for Verizon’s service, earnings, government and regulatory affairs, public policy
and economic development. She remains active in the community and in addition
to a number of other awards, was the 2004 recipient of the Providence College
Alumni Association’s Personal Achievement Award, as well as the Key Industry
Player Award presented by the Massachusetts Telecommunications Council.




 



PBN: Is the New England market different from the national market?




CUPELO: It is, surprisingly. But even within the New England market,
Massachusetts and Rhode Island are considered extremely competitive markets.
They really compare, believe it or not, to markets in places like New York City
for the business side and even the consumer side, as well as some pockets to
places like Los Angeles and Dallas. The reason for that is those are areas in
which there has been a lot of technological innovation and therefore a lot of
companies come together, making a good marketplace.



 


Q. How was Verizon impacted by the economic lull of the past few years?
There have been reports that companies were not investing in IT.



A. There was some recession going on, albeit slowly, before Sept.
11. Following Sept. 11, we started to see the effects of that recession and
then in addition, some of the fears associated with the terrorist attacks on
the country. What we saw was large business, the huge consumers of the communications
marketplace … take a step back and try to assess what the implications of the
recession and Sept. 11 were on their businesses. And for a period of about one,
one and a half years, they pretty much did not make any significant new buying
decisions. … At the consumer end, while we saw some stability as it relates
to consumer spending as a country, what we saw in our marketplace was almost
a retraction.



 


Q. But there were other factors?



A. The reason for all that was a little complicated. In addition to
some of the economic factors, there was a whole new technological evolution
going on, whereby in a person’s home, one might have had years ago, a line for
their children, a line for themselves, a line for the fax, a dial-up line for
the computer. And then through technology advancements, Internet access, through
our digital-line subscribe service, through cable modems and a whole new group
of people using wireless for voice communications – which happened probably
in the 2002, 2003 time frame – we’re now seeing in 2004 even more of an adoption
of wireless Internet services.



 


Q. The trend of companies bundling services, is that something Verizon
saw coming a long way out?



A. I think what we’ve learned is that the marketplace has evolved.
… What we try to do in all our market research is say, ‘How do we make it less
confusing for consumers, particularly on the retail consumer market.’ What we
said is, ‘OK, let’s look at that market. What are customers asking for?’ One
bill, bundling of services, many consumers wanted to have a discount if they
had a large purchase, similar to what they experienced as a business when they
purchased in quantity. So we saw that trend and as a result of that research,
we started offering more packages. The adoption rate for packages, in both Rhode
Island and Massachusetts, is significant. It is very rare that anyone calls
and orders a line, with nothing with it.



 



Q. Is Verizon concerned with people going completely wireless, cutting their
land lines for good?




A. Actually, no. We do a lot of market research and what we’re finding
is there will always be some applications on the business side where in today’s
world and today’s computer world the connections and networks need to be very
robust. The broadband evolution, the transformation of the nation’s networks,
that we’re leading, shows us that big businesses are always going to need some
type of wire line service – and maybe some wireless, but it will be application-specific.
… What we’re seeing at the home is while there will be some applications for
mobility sake, there still is a need. … The investments that will be made in
fiber to the home, again one we’re leading and trialing now in Texas and you’ll
see being adopted in the East more over time, is showing us that consumers want
the bandwidth to conduct not only simple Internet transactions, but interactive
video transactions. So today’s environment, where we package communication services,
wireless and DirecTV as an alternative to cable, tomorrow we may package something
different.



 


Q. Why is Verizon making the investment it’s making in broadband now?


A. Research, research, research. When we look at the applications
we see evolving today and look at it by market segment, by age group, particular
interest groups, what we see is more of an appetite for applications that require
more bandwidth than anyone offers today. And so we know that doesn’t happen
overnight. So we’re spending billions of dollars, not just on the wire line
side, to bring more fiber to the premise. … If we don’t supply that bandwidth,
someone else will. And so we’ve decided to be a leader in the nation to do it.


 



Q. The $3 billion that Verizon is spending on its broadband upgrade over
the next three years – is it a lot?



A. It is a lot when you look at it being pointed in one direction.
We spend billions of dollars each year investing to maintain our network. …
As an example, at the height of the market, back in 2000, we were investing
$100 million right here in Rhode Island. That has tapered off as the economy
has tapered off and some of the needs have tapered off, but we’ve still invested
$50 million in Rhode Island just this year. … But when you look at targeted
investments on fiber, that really sends a message to the industry. Because it
doesn’t just have an impact on the manufacturers of fiber cable, it has an impact
on the manufacturers of all the fiber electronics that sit on the ends.


 



Q. What other growth areas are you considering? You mentioned the DirecTV
partnership. Is the cable business being considered?



A. At this point in time, we have not made a firm decision as to what
extent we will get into the video business, and whether that translates to what
people know as cable today. I doubt that will be the same type of service. …
In today’s world, under our traditional network, our growth opportunities, in
Rhode Island for example, have been our digital subscriber lines over traditional
copper lines. But in the future what you’ll see is more applications that ride
over fiber optic cable to the premises and are far more interactive. That will
be our focus on both the wire line and wireless side on a continuum with our
investment strategy.



 


Q. As for public policy, what regulatory changes would you like to see?



A. Because we are a nationwide company, there are some regulations
that are nationwide in scope that are governed by the Federal Communications
Commission. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was probably the last, or most
sweeping legislation that dictated how local companies would open their networks
to competition. … One of the things the (FCC) said is that in the broadband
networks of the future, the local companies, like Verizon, will not be responsible
to un-bundle or provide some pieces of their network at a discount. There’s
been a lot of confusion and litigation going on at the federal level regarding
the issue. … We need a coherent set of policies at the federal level, so at
the state level, the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission, the Massachusetts
Department of Energy & Telecom, can then implement those policies. We have
not had that since 1996. … Initially, the Telecom Act was a good idea, because
the world really had changed and competition needed to evolve. I think what
the federal regulators didn’t realize was how fast technology would evolve,
how fast the markets would evolve and that the regulations were falling behind.


 



Alicia Korney is a contributing writer to PBN.

No posts to display