Verizon Was Behind Brookings Broadband Study

Communications Today,  July 27, 2001  

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A recent Brookings Institution study that predicted widespread use of high-speed Internet service in the near future could pump as much as $500 billion into the U.S. economy was done on behalf of Verizon Communications [VZ], the report's author told Communications Today yesterday.

"[The study] was done for Verizon Communications," said Robert Crandall, an economist at the Washington, D.C.-based think tank and co-author of "The $500 Billion Opportunity: The Potential Economic Benefit of Widespread Diffusion of Broadband Internet Access." Crandall said, "They're obviously interested in saying that broadband is very important because they have issues on the Hill."

Crandall was a panelist yesterday during a Washington, D.C., forum entitled "What Path To Broadband Paradise?" sponsored by the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.

The broadband study authored by Crandall and consultant Charles Jackson said a greater deployment of broadband would enable consumers to shop online, telecommute, and enjoy entertainment and other benefits.

Crandall said he knew the study would draw its fair share of criticism. "My integrity is on the line here," he said. "Verizon didn't interfere in any way with my conclusions. I would expect if they didn't like it, they wouldn't have released it, but they did." >TK Allegiance Telecom Inc. [ALGX]: AT&T [T]: BellSouth Corp.[BLS]: Conestoga Enterprises Inc. [CENI]: Deutsche Telekom [DT]: Hewlett-Packard [HWP]:

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