Fiber-to-the-Home Council Statistics Show Verizon Sets the Pace in Installing Next-Generation Services

NEW YORK - By a wide margin, Verizon continues to be the most powerful force in the re-wiring of North America, leading other telephone companies, local exchange companies, towns, developers and cable multisystem operators in connecting homes to new services with 100 percent fiber-optic links.  Those are the key findings of a newly released study by an independent group.

In its semi-annual study released Tuesday (April 8), the Fiber-to-the-Home Council reported that 11.8 million homes are passed by fiber-optic cables and 10 million can now be connected, while nearly 3 million already have service on fiber all the way to the home. In total, about 10 percent of all North American homes are passed by fiber cables, with FTTH growth running at 97 percent annually.

Verizon, the council said, leads the pace with more than 70 percent of the current total fiber connections.  Cable operators have installed less than one percent of the total all-fiber services.

"Cable companies frequently claim in their ads that they have fiber just like Verizon," said John Wimsatt, senior vice president of marketing for Verizon.  "But this report, from an independent group, shows that the leader by miles in deploying fiber-optic technology all the way to customers is Verizon.  No cable company even comes close to providing this level of service using this powerful, new technology."

The council's news release and accompanying slides can be found at http://www.ftthcouncil.org/?t=284  and http://www.ftthcouncil.org/documents/137785.pdf, respectively.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving nearly 66 million customers nationwide.  Verizon's Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world, and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network.  A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of nearly 235,000 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of $93.5 billion.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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