Verizon's State-Issued Video Franchise Application Approved by Public Utility Commission of Texas

IRVING, Texas - The Public Utility Commission of Texas today approved Verizon's state-issued franchise application to offer Verizon FiOS TV service to 21 communities in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. This is in addition to Verizon's previously obtained video franchise agreements in the communities of Keller, Sachse, Westlake and Wylie.

The franchise will accelerate Verizon's rollout of its new TV service to North Texas communities in its service area where fiber deployment is actively under way. By the end of 2006, FiOS TV will be available to nearly 400,000 North Texas households with over 1 million potential viewers. Without the state-issued franchise, it would have taken Verizon between six to 18 months to negotiate a municipal video franchise agreement in individual communities, significantly slowing down the ability for consumers to have a choice for in-home television service.

The communities covered by the state-issued franchise are: Allen, Carrollton, Colleyville, Coppell, Denton, Double Oak, Flower Mound, Fort Worth, Garland, Grapevine, Hebron, Highland Village, Irving, Lewisville, Lucas, Murphy, Parker, Plano, Rowlett, Southlake and St. Paul.

Since Verizon began constructing the nation's most robust totally fiber-optic network in early 2004, the company has added more than 700 new full-time positions and retained the use of more than 800 contractors in Texas alone.

The following statement should be attributed to Verizon Southwest Region President Steve Banta.

"The state-issued video franchise will allow more Texans to reap the benefits of Verizon's all-fiber TV service, FiOS TV, and change forever the way people watch TV.

"Consumer response to our ultra-fast Verizon FiOS Internet Service, which delivers superior quality, speed and reliability, continues to grow. We will now work to add to our winning combination by bringing FiOS TV to more customers as quickly as possible.

"Since we began selling FiOS TV in Keller (Sept. 22), customer response has been outstanding, and we expect that to continue as the service becomes more widely available.

"In fact, the response to our 100 percent fiber-optic suite of services continues to be so positive that we plan to hire 150, and possibly more, union-represented fiber network technicians in North Texas over the next several months to provide our customers with continued excellent service."

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