Last year Verizon began laying new plant in select AT&T territories in Texas, putting FiOS in rare direct competition with U-Verse. Verizon's interest in taking FiOS outside of where they've traditionally offered copper-based services piqued plenty of people's interest. Seeing Verizon and AT&T do battle would certainly be appealing to consumers, given it would add a competitive dimension to an all-too-frequently stale duopoly system.

Many believe it's simply wishful thinking. Verizon also repeatedly says their incursion into AT&T territory is very limited in scope. "I wouldn't call this a major attack on AT&T or anything like that," Verizon's Eric Rabe said when Verizon began offering FiOS in some AT&T neighborhoods in the Dalls area. "This is just taking advantage of an opportunity to sell to the rest of the town." Verizon does admits there could be other such "opportunities."

At least one analysis firm thinks it could be the opening salvo in a broader war. Clifford Holliday, an analyst with Information Gatekeepers, recently published a report claiming Verizon will be very successful in the ten to twelve Dallas communities where they're doing battle with AT&T. Holliday predicts they'll like the results of those initial deployments, and will want to move on from there -- most likely to California.

As for Texas, Light Reading editor Phil Harvey e-mails me to note that they've learned that Verizon's encroachment into U-Verse territory will be expanding in February. Their report claims that while this may not have a serious impact on a national scale, it will be interesting for industry watchers to see the two heavyweight giants pummel the hell out of one another. Some apparently see the move as "insanity" on Verizon's part:While you'd have to think that FTTH FiOS service will come out ahead of AT&T's VDSL2-based offering in a head to head battle, a lot will depend on how the speeds and packages are priced. Given how the two companies work closely together on the lobbying front to erode competitive threats, you have to think they'll hash out a deal that will keep any telecom bloodshed to a minimum.