Verizon president sets sights on AT&T

Verizon is on the verge of winning long-distance approval in all 15 of its local states, giving the carrier another arrow in its quiver of enterprise services, which already include local voice, many flavors of data transport and network management, design and integration services. Network World Senior Writer Michael Martin recently sat down with Eduardo Menasce, president of Verizon Enterprise Solutions Group, to discuss the evolution of the telecom market.

You're nearing 271-approval in all your local states. Initially this seems to be more of a consumer play, but what does it mean long term for the enterprise?

It means we can become not an [interexchange carrier], but a totally different entity: One that can leverage extraordinary local capabilities and go after [long-distance] revenue that we couldn't pursue in the past. We're nationwide, but we only have a local presence. We're outstanding in New Jersey, outstanding in New York. However, we can't serve a customer from here to there. 271-relief lets us cross that river. I'd like to share some news with you, but I can't because it's something we're doing in a couple of weeks. I can say customers are asking us to give them long-distance - voice and data. They're asking us to make the transition from a [regional Bell operating company] - not to an IXC - but to something different.

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Verizon is on the verge of winning long-distance approval in all 15 of its local states, giving the carrier another arrow in its quiver of enterprise services, which already include local voice, many flavors of data transport and network management, design and integration services. Network World Senior Writer Michael Martin recently sat down with Eduardo Menasce, president of Verizon Enterprise Solutions Group, to discuss the evolution of the telecom market.

You're nearing 271-approval in all your local states. Initially this seems to be more of a consumer play, but what does it mean long term for the enterprise?

It means we can become not an [interexchange carrier], but a totally different entity: One that can leverage extraordinary local capabilities and go after [long-distance] revenue that we couldn't pursue in the past. We're nationwide, but we only have a local presence. We're outstanding in New Jersey, outstanding in New York. However, we can't serve a customer from here to there. 271-relief lets us cross that river. I'd like to share some news with you, but I can't because it's something we're doing in a couple of weeks. I can say customers are asking us to give them long-distance - voice and data. They're asking us to make the transition from a [regional Bell operating company] - not to an IXC - but to something different.

And Verizon is very well positioned to do that. Looking at what is happening in the marketplace, there is a window of opportunity. When we formed our objectives two years ago, I didn't think the market would go in the direction it has. I didn't expect the economic downturn, everyone cutting spending, and we didn't forecast we would have fewer competitors. We couldn't foresee the demise of WorldCom. So we will become a real solutions provider, A-to-Z.

AT&T and WorldCom are some of the largest competitive local exchange carriers today. How do you see them as competitors?

AT&T is clearly No. 1 in the large-business customer segment. They have a good reputation and national presence. They are the strongest IXC. We're going after each other. But it's much easier [for us] to go after long-distance. It's less capital-intensive to move from local to long-distance than the other way around. WorldCom is a question mark. What will happen to them, I don't know. I would guess they will [emerge from bankruptcy] a completely different company - a smaller company and maybe not the competitor they were before. That would leave us two strong competitors: AT&T and Sprint.

When you're going after the large-customer segment, how do you convince someone to shift from AT&T? Is it price?

People are maybe more price-sensitive today because they have to do more with less. But they also realize that price is not the only game in town. A lot of people got hurt by going for price. People are looking for someone who can provide the entire value proposition - strong company, facilities-based, large portfolio of products and services.

And customers would like to have a choice. They'd like to have another provider that could be as strong or stronger than AT&T, so they aren't in the hands of one provider.