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Verizon to Expand Fiber-Optic Network

Posted on: Thursday, 21 October 2004, 20:00 CDT

Oct. 22--Verizon Communications Inc. is expanding its fiber-optic network -- capable of delivering telephone and super-fast Internet access and eventually television service -- to parts of six more states, including some communities in Bucks and Chester Counties.

The expansion is part of Verizon's nationwide plan to overhaul its old copper-wire systems and gain new customers and sources of revenue.

Verizon will add 3,000 to 5,000 jobs as it brings fiber-optic cable to homes and businesses in parts of Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. It already has fiber networks in parts of California, Texas and Florida, and is expanding in those states, too.

"This is just the beginning," Verizon retail markets president Bob Ingalls said in a conference call yesterday. "Next year, we plan to announce video services on this platform."

Verizon did not say where the jobs would be created. But it said the fiber network was coming to Doylestown, Yardley and Newtown in Bucks County, as well as Chester Springs, Downingtown and Exton in Chester County.

Upper Makefield Township in Bucks County said Verizon was building a fiber network there as well, although the company would not confirm that.

Verizon said its fiber expansion would be focused on the suburbs for now.

Doylestown Township Manager Stephanie Mason said Verizon started installing fiber lines there a few months ago and planned on selling new services to Doylestown residents and businesses early next year.

"Verizon said we were one of the pilot areas," Mason said. "The end result for residents is going to be exciting -- they'll be offering new services."

For instance, Verizon said its new fiber system would allow customers to add or drop lines more quickly.

"If you need to add capacity because your broadband-hungry son or daughter is home from college, we can do that quickly," Verizon network services group president Paul Lacouture said.

The fiber network will allow for Internet access speeds that are much faster than Verizon's digital subscriber line service, the company says.

The company expects to complete its "fiber-to-the-premises" network in about five years, which will allow it to phase out its DSL service.

In areas in which the fiber network has already been built, the monthly charge for five-megabits-per-second Internet service -- faster than the top speeds offered by most cable-modem services -- starts at $34.95.

Verizon has said it would spend $2.5 billion by the end of next year on the new fiber system.

Verizon and other local-phone companies are working to revamp their businesses so they can compete more broadly with cable operators such as Comcast Corp., which are expanding into telephone service over their cable lines. Earlier this year, SBC Communications Inc. said it would invest $6 billion on a video-capable system over the next five years.

The ability of Verizon's fiber system to carry video service has prompted Upper Makefield Township to craft an agreement that would allow it to collect franchise fees from Verizon when the company starts offering television services. The township receives about $90,000 annually in franchise fees from Comcast.

"We negotiated for two months," said Township Manager Rich Gestrich. "We're very concerned that they weren't back-dooring us on that issue."

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(c) 2004, The Philadelphia Inquirer. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

VZ, CMCSK, SBC,

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

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