NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Tuesday the city's agreement with Verizon to tackle the digital divide by ensuring they build out its FiOS footprint to 500,000 additional households, making high-speed fiber broadband available to more New Yorkers.
"We've had a digital divide, we've had a huge disparity of who gets access to internet, and who doesn't," de Blasio said. "We have to create a society where everyone has equal access."
The agreement addresses disparities faced by low-income and New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) families across the city and requires Verizon to build out broadband to 500,00 households.
Due to the corporation’s previous failure to connect many buildings, large portions of New York City neighborhoods are under an effective monopoly, with only one cable and broadband provider, risking lower speeds and higher costs.
Under the settlement, Verizon will prioritize the least-connected Community Districts and ensure connectivity for every NYCHA residential building.
"COVID-19 has further exposed the inequalities in internet access while changing the way New Yorkers work, learn, and live," de Blasio said. "We will continue to hold any corporation that fails to deliver on its promise to New Yorkers accountable.”
Many of the neighborhoods that have the most to gain from this settlement are Community Districts that are hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic including neighborhoods such as Hunts Point and Fordham in the Bronx, Brownsville, Ocean Hill and Bushwick in Brooklyn and Washington Height, Two Bridges, and Chinatown in Manhattan.
At a minimum, Verizon will make connections available to 125,000 additional households in these Community Districts, which means that if a resident requests paid FiOS service, Verizon will be required to make it available generally within a week.
The City will soon be releasing a solicitation for new open-access infrastructure and will engage new and existing broadband companies in serving New Yorkers with high-quality, affordable internet service options.
"We're grateful for the opportunity to bring Verizon Fios service to an additional 500,000 New York City consumers. Currently about 2.5 million NYC homes and businesses benefit from all that Fios has to offer," a Verizon spokesman said in a statement. "This agreement builds upon Verizon's base, and will make this premier broadband service available to even more consumers."