Lowell McAdam's Error In The NY Times

[Commentary] In a recent New York Times op-ed, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam claimed in "the European Union ... today only about 2 percent of households have access to broadband networks with 100-megabit-plus speeds." The actual figure is more than twenty times higher than that, according to a report by Point-Topic.

Fact-checkers may have also missed recent mistakes including a claim that European broadband providers are four times more profitable than their American peers and that U.S. entry level prices are among the lowest in the world. I've checked the profitability by several measures (% of sales, return on assets) and the U.S. and European carriers are similar. I've also surveyed the actual prices of low end services in the U.S. at the major carriers and they are typically $25-$52. You can get a complete triple play with much faster broadband in several European countries for that range and basic service for less.