Verizon CEO speaks on Sept. 11 attacks at ECC luncheon
December 14, 2001 10:00
By Jeff Meredith
i-street.com
CHICAGO - Verizon employee Lisa Jefferson received a standing ovation at the Executives' Club of Chicago on Thursday after Co-CEO Charles R. Lee recognized the Chicago native for her unique role in the September 11 terrorist attacks.
When Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer could not get credit card authorization to use a GTE Airfone from the rear of the jetliner, his call was transferred to Jefferson, a Verizon supervisor. Jefferson contacted the FBI and spoke with Beamer from 9:45 a.m. until shortly before the jet crashed. After reciting the Lord's Prayer together, the last words she heard were "Are you ready guys? Let's roll."
When two hijacked planes struck the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center, Verizon suffered a heavy blow. Its West Street switching office, connecting 200,000 voice lines and 3 million private data lines, was badly damaged when Seven World Trade Center collapsed. Steel beams from that building came through the structure, and water poured into its basement, drenching cables and interrupting service.
The company itself lost three employees in the tragedy and so did sister company Genuity. Lee talked about the company's experience and also suggested what the future course should be for the country's telecommunications policy.
"A catastrophe like this really tests your mettle as an organization," said Lee. "Our values led us to establish three simple priorities: take care of our employees, take care of our customers, and take care of our communities."
Verizon had 2200 employees near the Trade Center, both in the towers and at the switching office north of One World Trade Center.
The New York Stock Exchange is heavily dependent on Verizon's West Street office - thanks to Verizon's technicians, NYSE was able to reopen on Sept. 17, and it handled its largest volume - 2.3 billion shares - in history.
Affected on a more personal level, Lee spoke of visiting the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, where the company has 40 employees operating a communications system. Lee said strangers "cried on my shoulder as they spoke of their ordeals," and that one woman relayed the story of seeing 13 people jump to their deaths from the towers.
"I know it deepened my sense of what it means to be a leader - let alone to be human," he said.
Nearly three months after the attack, Lee was eager to share what his company learned from 9/11, expressing views on its policy implications. He said that wireless "isn't a luxury, it's a necessity," and then issued quick praise of Federal Communications Chairman Michael Powell for increasing the amount of spectrum any one company can own.
Last month, the FCC voted 3-1 to raise spectrum levels from 45 to 55 megahertz in urban markets, and also abolished the cap starting in 2003. That FCC move could open the door for industry consolidation, critics charge; they also contend that the spectrum cap allowed smaller wireless carriers to enter the market, increasing competition.
Lee also wants to see the passage of the Tauzin-Dingell bill, just postponed until sometime next year by the House of Represenatives. The bill which would allow the four remaining Bells (Verizon, SBC, Qwest and Bell South) to enter the long distance data-market without regulations forcing them to show that they have opened their markets to competitors. Tauzin also frees Verizon and its cohorts from regulations requiring the leasing of local lines to competing DSL providers.
"We need to promote faster development of broadband by eliminating regulations that disadvantage one industry - meaning ours - relative to another - meaning cable," said Lee. "We must create the right incentives and remove the barriers that now exist to building out a nationwide infrastructure that will drive innovation and capital investment."
Competition wasn't much mentioned by Lee and neither was a measure introduced by FCC Chairman Powell, one which would increase fines against Bells for failing to open their networks to competition. Powell asked Congress to amend the Telecommunications Act so that the penalty for a continuing violation could jump from $1.2 million to $10 million.
Verizon, with over $68 billion in annual revenue, paid $1.5 million to the federal government in August for failing to meet goals of providing access to their networks for three consecutive months (April through June) and paid another $1.5 million a month later.
Bells have argued that higher fines wouldn't make much difference, contending that tracking performance is too difficult and that high standards already kick in fines for violations that are not severe; some say deep-pocketed carriers would still see paying fines as a way of doing business. The former Bells paid more than $370 million in fines and penalties last year. |
