Internet service providers have consistently told the government that utility regulation of broadband would harm infrastructure investment. AT&T has (not very convincingly) claimed that it can't consider any new fiber upgrades while the Federal Communications Commission debates whether to impose utility rules on broadband under Title II of the Communications Act.

Further Reading Verizon promises not to sue over net neutrality—if FCC avoids utility rules

But Verizon struck a blow to that narrative yesterday when Chief Financial Officer Francis Shammo said utility rules will not influence how Verizon invests in its networks.

Speaking at a UBS investor conference (see transcript at Seeking Alpha), Shammo was asked, "Obviously there's a lot of commentary coming out of Washington about this move to Title II... What's your view of that potential occurrence down in Washington and does it affect your view on the attractiveness of investing further in the United States?"

Shammo answered that Title II will not affect Verizon's investments. "I mean to be real clear, I mean this does not influence the way we invest," he said. "I mean we're going to continue to invest in our networks and our platforms, both in Wireless and Wireline FiOS and where we need to. So nothing will influence that. I mean if you think about it, look, I mean we were born out of a highly regulated company, so we know how this operates."

President Obama last month urged the FCC to reclassify broadband as a utility and impose net neutrality rules similar to the ones that were struck down by a court this year after a Verizon challenge. Verizon claimed at the time that Title II reclassification would "threaten great harm to an open Internet, competition, and innovation."

In fact, Title II confers both burdens and benefits upon telecommunications companies. Because Verizon's traditional landline service is still regulated as a utility, it's been able to use utility privileges to its advantage when building out fiber.

Verizon's fiber buildout hasn't come close to reaching all portions of Verizon's wireline territory—but at least Title II won't slow it down any further.

Shammo did go on to reiterate Verizon's opposition to Title II regulation of broadband. Although Title II won't impact Verizon's investments, Shammo didn't rule out the possibility that it could harm investment at other companies. "If you look at other countries who have done this, it kind of leads you down to [a] path of total failure because it really, really slows down investment and slows down innovation," he said.

Shammo did not dispute that ISPs will likely sue again if the FCC does reclassify broadband. "I think if they go all the way to the extreme of Title II, I'll quote what [Verizon Executive VP] Randal [Milch] said on stage about a month ago, which is, I think it's going to be a very litigious environment," he said.

Verizon is generally acknowledged as having the best nationwide wireless network, but its wireline networks are less admired. FiOS fiber-to-the-home is doing well in the areas where it exists, Shammo said, but Verizon is just treading water with its copper network. Verizon's treatment of its copper network has led to many customer complaints.

"I mean you can see by our FiOS numbers, we continue to take share in FiOS," Shammo said. "Outside of FiOS, where I only have copper to compete against cable, I'm not going to win that battle. I can't compete on speed. We've made the strategic decision not to invest in that copper plan anymore. So now it's just, try to maintain that and keep customers as long as we can."