Verizon invested $78M in R.I. telecommunications last year

CONSTRUCTION OF the FiOS network in Rhode Island began in 2006, and it now reaches approximately 443,000 homes and businesses, or 87 percent of residences and businesses in the state, Verizon said. / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/RYAN ANSON
CONSTRUCTION OF the FiOS network in Rhode Island began in 2006, and it now reaches approximately 443,000 homes and businesses, or 87 percent of residences and businesses in the state, Verizon said. / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/RYAN ANSON

PROVIDENCE – Verizon Communications Inc. invested more than $78 million in fiber-optic and IP network upgrades in Rhode Island last year, including the extension of the FiOS network throughout 29 local communities, the company reported last week.
Construction of the FiOS network in Rhode Island began in 2006, and it now reaches approximately 443,000 homes and businesses, or 87 percent of residences and businesses in the state, Verizon said. The fiber cables Verizon has deployed in Rhode Island total more than 6,000 miles, enough to stretch from Woonsocket to Westerly and back 100 times.
“We are proud to serve Rhode Island and build an all-fiber network that is already bringing tremendous benefits to its residents and businesses and will continue to do so for decades to come,” said Allison G. Cole, Verizon’s New England region president of consumer and mass markets. “Rhode Island is growing its reputation in technology, education and health care – and the new state-of-the-art Verizon wireless and fiber-optic networks play a huge role in building that competitive advantage.”
Verizon’s major initiatives in 2013 in Rhode Island included:

  • Completing the expansion of the company’s fiber-optic FiOS voice, Internet and TV services in all licensed FiOS communities.
  • Renewing Verizon’s sponsorship of the Founder’s League startup incubator in Providence with an $11,500 grant.
  • Selecting Smithfield High School and Western Hills Middle School in Cranston as two of 24 “Best in Region” winners of the Verizon Innovation App Challenge, and awarding each school a $5,000 grant to support STEM education.
  • Improving phone service for Rhode Island residential and small-business customers experiencing repeat repair issues by upgrading their service from copper to the company’s all-fiber infrastructure.

“Verizon’s advanced networks enable commerce to thrive, businesses to open new markets, students to learn and parents to stay in touch with their children,” said Cole. “Our new networks have removed traditional technological boundaries, empowering people and businesses to connect however, whenever and wherever they want. This ‘borderless lifestyle’ brings great benefits to our customers, employees, suppliers and communities.”
Through a spokesperson, Cox Communications declined to discuss its recent infrastructure-improvement costs. However, the spokesperson said that “over the last decade, Cox Communications’ total capital expenditure in Rhode Island has been more than half a billion dollars.”
Rhode Island-based Full Channel also would not disclose specifics costs related to recent network upgrades, company President Levi C. Maaia said that the company has “significantly increased our network backbone capacity with redundant connections to more network providers.”
“Full Channel is implementing a growth plan to meet the explosion of demand for increased Internet speeds as a result of the increasing popularity of streaming video services from providers like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon,” he said.
Verizon Communications Inc., headquartered in New York, is a global broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services provider with nearly 103 million retail connections nationwide.
AT&T, which tied for “best performing network” with Verizon Wireless in a RootMetrics report gauging network reliability and speed in Rhode Island, invested more than $50 million in its wireless and wired networks in Rhode Island between 2011 and 2013, including more than 20 network upgrades last year alone as part of the company’s plan to expand and enhance IP broadband networks in the state. The upgrades included new cell tower sites, additional wireless and wired network capacity, and new broadband network connections.

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