Verizon Deploys Fiber Optics, Electronics, Bringing Additional Advanced Technology, Services To Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA - Verizon Communications is investing more than $460,000 in two projects to modernize the local telecommunications network and provide additional broadband capability to its customers in the city.

In one project, Verizon is installing fiber-optic cable between Red Lion Road and Roosevelt Boulevard and the company's telephone office located at Grant and Lott streets to satisfy business customers' demand for high-speed/high-capacity telecommunications services. In a separate project, Verizon is installing fiber-optic cable and electronic equipment between its center city telephone offices located at Ninth and Race streets and 17^th Street and Arch Street. This advanced technology will enable future growth and provide additional capacity and reliability in the Verizon network.

The underground cables contain more than 1,700 fiber miles, or the total length if all the fibers in the cables were placed end to end. Verizon expects to complete the projects by the end of this year. Fiber-optic systems use hair-thin glass strands and digital technology to deliver high quality telephone services along with high-capacity/high-speed voice and data services.

''These projects are 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 will reach $1 billion this year, totaling $3 billion in the past three years.
  
• Fiber miles in the Verizon Pennsylvania network increased from 911,308 in 1999 to 997,442 in 2000.
  
• Verizon Pennsylvania fulfilled its commitment to the state Public Utility Commission to convert all of its 218 switching offices to digital technology by the end of last year.

''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.''

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Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) 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 112 million access line equivalents and 27 million wireless customers. Verizon is also the largest directory publisher in the world. A Fortune 10 company with approximately 260,000 employees and more than $65 billion in annual 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