By Ted Nesi
PBN Staff Writer
BOSTON – Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) today began offering its FiOS fiber-optic television service in Glocester and Smithfield.
Phil Santoro, Verizon’s local spokesman, told Providence Business News the company expects to have the fiber-optic network built out to reach 85 percent of Rhode Island customers by the end of the year.
The R.I. Public Utilities Commission has granted Verizon approval to offer FiOS service in 29 of the state’s 39 communities; the most recent approval was for state Cable Service Area 1, which includes Glocester and Smithfield.
The television and Internet service is now available in 16 cities and towns across the Ocean State, Santoro said, and the company expects it will be offered in four more municipalities by the end of the year: Cumberland, Lincoln, Central Falls and Pawtucket.
The other nine communities for which the company already has approval should gain access to the actual FiOS service in 2009, he said.
However, Verizon has not yet made a decision on when to apply for regulatory permission to bring FiOS to the remaining Rhode Island communities: Barrington, Bristol, Jamestown, Little Compton, Middletown, Newport, Portsmouth, Tiverton and Warren. It is possible, though not certain, that those communities could be included when Verizon announces its infrastructure investment plan for 2009.
“Our intention is to offer it to as many people as we possibly can,” Santoro said.
When all is said and done, Verizon expects to invest $23 billion nationwide to run fiber-optic cables past 19 million U.S. homes. (The optical cable is run from the street to the home once a customer has ordered the service.) The company has been advertising to attract customers away from more-established carriers.
As of June 30, there were 2 million FiOS Internet subscribers nationwide and 1.4 million FiOS television customers. Although the company does not release subscriber numbers for individual regions, Verizon says that nationwide, 24 percent of homes where FiOS is available have signed up for the Internet service while 20 percent have signed up for the 250-channel-plus FiOS TV service.
“It’s going exceeding well,” Santoro said. “Customers love the service.”
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), a Dow 30 company, delivers broadband and other communications services through its Verizon Wireless and Verizon Wireline divisions. For more information about Verizon and its Rhode Island operations, visit www.verizon.com/ri.
