Verizon Offers the Fastest Way to the 33rd Annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

LONG BEACH, Calif. - Verizon, provider of the fastest Internet connections in Southern California through its all-fiber-optic network direct to customers' homes, is inviting everyone to move into the fast lane with free passes to the 33rd Annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach next month.

The passes, which are good for general admission on April 13, can be downloaded and printed at www.verizon.com/freefriday. The Grand Prix continues through April 15.

Verizon, the official communications sponsor for the race, will host several tents throughout the race enclosure at the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center during the weekend of the race, providing visitors with an opportunity to learn about the company's FiOS Internet and FiOS TV services.

"We're thrilled to be part of this exciting sport where speed rules," said Dustin Kroeger, director of consumer marketing for Verizon's West Coast region. "There's no better place than the Grand Prix to demonstrate Verizon FiOS Internet, the fastest broadband experience in the market and the Internet equivalent of driving a Grand Prix racing car."

Verizon's FiOS delivers speeds of up to 30 Mbps (megabits per second). At that speed, downloading a 1.2 gigabyte full-length feature movie takes about 5 minutes.

Verizon's one-year sponsorship agreement with the Grand Prix of Long Beach will give the company marketing and brand exposure opportunities at the race, including on-track signage, extensive merchandising rights and a trackside suite for client entertainment. In addition, a pedestrian bridge over the Long Beach Promenade, connecting the Shoreline Village to the track, will be renamed the Verizon Bridge, and the company will use its sponsorship rights to conduct various promotions.

Verizon offers an array of communications, broadband and entertainment products. Recently Verizon began offering FiOS TV, which delivers hundreds of digital video and music channels, high-definition programming, video-on-demand content, a robust interactive programming guide and other customer-friendly features. Verizon is constructing its fiber-optic network in 16 states, or more than half the states where it offers landline communications services.

Ticket prices for the event range from $25 for Friday general admission (unless obtained free from www.verizon.com/freefriday) up to $120 for a three-day ticket that includes Saturday and Sunday reserved seats in upper levels of the grandstands. Pre-paid parking packages can also be ordered through the Grand Prix ticket office.

For information or to purchase tickets, call the toll-free hotline at (888) 82-SPEED or visit www.longbeachgp.com.  A ticket brochure - which also includes circuit map, grandstand and parking locations, ticket prices and order form - can also be obtained by calling the ticket hotline.  Handicapped seating, Champ Car garage passes, super photo tickets and a variety of hospitality club packages are also available.

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 more than 59 million customers nationwide.  Verizon's Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which operates one of the most expansive wholly owned global IP networks, and Verizon Telecom, which is deploying the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network to deliver the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services to customers.  A Dow 30 company, Verizon has a diverse workforce of approximately 242,000 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of more than $88 billion.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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