Verizon Deploys Fiber Optics, Bringing Additional Telecommunications Capacity to Baltimore

BALTIMORE - Verizon Communications has invested close to $700,000 to modernize its local telecommunications network and provide additional broadband capability to its customers in downtown Baltimore.

Verizon recently installed additional fiber-optic cable and electronic equipment at a number of downtown locations including the Inner Harbor, Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center located in East Baltimore.

The underground and aerial cables contain the equivalent of 5,932 fiber miles, the total length if all the new fibers in the cable were placed end to end. This advanced equipment will serve business customers and provide additional capacity and reliability in the Verizon network.

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 demonstrate that Verizon is meeting its commitment to deliver a state-of-the-art telecommunications network throughout Maryland," said William R. Roberts, president of Verizon Maryland. "We are working hard 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."

Roberts highlighted the substantial investment Verizon has made in its Maryland telecommunications infrastructure:

• A $829 million investment last year to expand and upgrade the local telecommunications network.

• A 9-percent increase in fiber miles added to the Verizon Maryland network, which included a total of 436,409 fiber miles at the end of 2000.

In addition to deploying the latest technology, Verizon has opened Maryland's local telecommunications market to competition. The company must demonstrate that it has met the strict market-opening requirements of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 before it can offer long-distance phone service in Maryland.

"We have irreversibly opened our markets to competition, and that competition is growing in Maryland," said Roberts. "Any company that truly wants to compete here can do so."

Verizon Communications

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 125 million access line equivalents and approximately 28 million wireless customers. Verizon is also the largest directory publisher in the world. A Fortune 10 company with about 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.