Verizon Deploys Fiber Optics, Electronics, Bringing Additional Advanced Technology, Services to Philadelphia's Manayunk Section

PHILADELPHIA -- Verizon Communications has installed fiber-optic cable and associated electronic equipment in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia as part of a $97,000 project to modernize the local telephone network and provide additional broadband capability to its customers.

Verizon recently placed cable containing 144 fibers along Main. St between the company's Ivy Ridge telephone office, located at Grape and Terrance Sts. and Green Lane. This new technology will allow Verizon to provide additional capacity, reliability and survivability in its network. Fiber-optic systems use hair-thin glass fibers and digital technology to deliver high quality telephone service along with high-capacity/high-speed voice and data transmission services.

"This project is the latest evidence that Verizon is meeting its commitment to deliver a state-of-the-art telecommunications network throughout Pennsylvania," said Daniel J. Whelan, president of Verizon Pennsylvania. "We are accelerating our construction schedules to provide rural and urban customers with high-speed access to the Internet, work-at-home capabilities, as well as a host of other innovative advanced services."

Whelan said Verizon has made major strides in deploying advanced technology in its network:

• Investment in Verizon Pennsylvania's (formerly Bell Atlantic-Pennsylvania) network totaled nearly $2 billion in 1999 and 2000.

• Miles of fiber-optic cable in the Verizon Pennsylvania network increased by 92 percent from 474,450 in 1995 to more than 911,000 in 1999.

• Call-routing switches in the Verizon Pennsylvania network will be 100 percent by the end of the year 2000, having grown from 90.3 percent in 1995.

• Verizon Pennsylvania's DSL service was launched in Pennsylvania in October 1998 and is now available to more than 1.5 million households and 3.3 million lines in the state, including the Manayunk area. Verizon Online DSL is a high-speed connection to the Internet that enables users to connect to cyberspace at speeds up to 11 times faster than today's fastest analog modems.

"Verizon is keeping its promises to Pennsylvania," Whelan said. "We are building and enhancing a public telecommunications network in Pennsylvania that is the finest in the world and is a vital part of the commonwealth's economic infrastructure."

In addition to deploying the latest technology, Verizon has spent tens of millions of dollars to open Pennsylvania's local telephone market to competition.

"We have irreversibly opened our markets to competition," Whelan said. "We can't force the long distance giants or anyone else to compete here, but anyone who genuinely wants to enter our markets can do so."

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), formed by the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE, is one of the world's leading providers of communications services. Verizon companies are the largest providers of wireline and wireless communications in the United States, with more than 101 million access line equivalents and more than 26 million wireless customers. A Fortune 10 company with more than 260,000 employees and approximately $60 billion in 1999 revenues, Verizon's global presence extends to 40 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. For more information on Verizon, visit www.verizon.com.