Verizon Brings Fiber to Consumers and Small Business in Hyde Park and Tampa East Communities

TAMPA, Fla. - Verizon is bringing to Hyde Park and its Tampa East communities around the Clair Mel City area one of the most significant advancements in telecommunications technology in the past 100 years.

The company today announced it is rolling out a fiber-optic network - known as fiber to the premises, or FTTP -- that will deliver faster data speeds and crystal-clear voice to residence and business customers. This transformational upgrade to Verizon's network also has the capability to offer a full suite of video services.

Additional wire centers in Verizon's Florida territory where fiber is actively being deployed include University (New Tampa), Wesley Chapel, Keystone, Brandon, Carrollwood, Alafia, Beach Park, Siesta Key, Wallcraft, Temple Terrace, Lutz, Oldsmar, Hyde Park, Sarasota Northside, Bradenton Bay and Land O' Lakes.

"This is an important expansion of Verizon's FTTP program," said Alan Ciamporcero, Verizon's Southeast region president. "It moves the project deeper into the city of Tampa and puts us that much closer to serving the entire community with this exciting new technology. Additionally, when we are awarded a franchise with the city, these areas will enjoy the benefits of competition with the cable company through FiOS TV."

FTTP uses hair-thin strands of fiber and optical electronics to directly link homes and businesses to Verizon's network. The state-of-the-art network upgrade will unleash a range of advanced communication services.

Verizon's all-fiber system is capable of carrying a competitive choice to the existing cable television providers. The company will seek a franchise agreement before offering cable television service in a selected community.

Although the use of fiber optics is common for long-distance and inter-city communications throughout the telecommunications industry, Verizon is one of the first major telecom companies to begin using it to directly connect homes and businesses to the network on a widespread scale.

Verizon is building its FTTP network in more than half the states where it offers landline communications services. To help build the network across the country, Verizon will hire between 3,000 and 5,000 new employees by the end of this year, including hundreds in Florida.

Fiber offers tremendous advantages to network operators, in addition to new and superior services for customers. For example, fiber offers reliable service in stretches of wet weather that can affect copper-based networks and coaxial cable systems.

"Verizon's fully fiber-optic network is technically superior to other communication platforms because it offers faster data speeds than those currently available, as well as voice and video capability," said John Ferrell, Verizon's network service's group market area president. "Our fiber engineering creates a network that requires less day-to-day maintenance and allows for proactive and even faster repairs."

Customer reaction to Verizon's new fiber-based Internet access service, called FiOS (FYE'-ose), has been very positive, with broadband subscribers more than doubling in the company's inaugural FiOS market of Keller, Texas, just outside Dallas/Fort Worth. Other market areas, including Florida, have also enjoyed strong response to the initial FiOS product offering.

"FiOS has been an extraordinary hit with our first customers. People are literally lining up to get what they know is a fantastic and even more reliable service at an excellent price," said Ferrell. "The need for speed and ability to take advantage of bandwidth-intensive applications remain a top priority for all computer users."

There are three tiers of Verizon FiOS Internet Service for consumers, with downstream (download) speeds of up to 5, 15 and 30 Mbps (megabits per second).*
• Up to 5 Mbps (megabits per second) downstream and 2 Mbps upstream. Suited for Internet surfing and basic computer functions. $34.95 a month as part of a calling package, or $39.95 a month stand-alone.

• Up to 15 Mbps downstream and 2 Mbps upstream. Appealing to families that have multiple computers and various needs such as media downloads and the ability to access or share large files. $44.95 a month as part of a calling package, or $49.95 a month stand-alone.

• Up to 30 Mbps downstream and 5 Mbps upstream. Designed for communications-intensive power users with significant bandwidth needs, such as telecommuters or work-at-home households and avid online gamers. $179.95 a month as part of a calling package, or $199.95 a month stand-alone.

The FTTP initiative represents a natural extension of the more than 10 million miles of fiber-optic cable Verizon already has in place and extends the high capacity, speed and quality of fiber directly to the customer's doorstep. With FTTP technology, Verizon can easily add more capacity, higher speeds or future video services.

Verizon's digital subscriber line (DSL) service will remain the company's most widely available form of high-speed Internet access for the foreseeable future while the company ramps up FTTP deployment. The company offers DSL on a widespread basis in Florida.

Verizon Communications Inc.

With more than $71 billion in annual revenues, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) is one of the world's leading providers of communications services. Verizon has a diverse work force of more than 214,000 in four business units: Domestic Telecom provides customers based in 28 states with wireline and other telecommunications services, including broadband. Verizon Wireless owns and operates the nation's most reliable wireless network, serving 47.4 million voice and data customers across the United States. Information Services operates directory publishing businesses and provides electronic commerce services. International includes wireline and wireless operations and investments, primarily in the Americas and Europe. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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