Verizon Invests $92.5 Million to Upgrade Telephone Network in Hawaii

HONOLULU - Verizon Communications has invested $92.5 million this year to modernize, expand and upgrade its telecommunications network in Hawaii. Verizon, which serves more than 650,000 customers in the state, has pumped more than $639 million into its network over the past six years to ensure that its customers continue to receive high quality service and access to new telecommunications technology.

"Verizon is committed to ensuring that the people of Hawaii have a telecommunications network that is among the very finest in the nation," said Warren Haruki, president of Verizon Hawaii. "Our investment in the telecommunications infrastructure in Hawaii will enhance the state's ability to stimulate economic growth while attracting new jobs and businesses. We will continue to deploy services that give our customers new ways to stay in touch with family and friends and help businesses run more efficiently."

Verizon recently installed more than 2,075 miles of fiber-optic cable on Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island. Fiber-optic systems use hair-thin glass strands and digital technology to deliver telephone service along with high-capacity, high-speed voice and data services. These self-healing networks also increase network reliability and stimulate new economic development opportunities for communities served by an advanced telecommunications infrastructure.

Verizon's network investment this year has enabled the company to expand and enhance its digital switching and fiber-optic facilities to keep pace with the region's growth. Verizon Hawaii's network is 100 percent digital and includes more than 45,000 miles of fiber-optic cable.

Haruki noted other milestones the company achieved in Hawaii this year:
• Introduced new technology called Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM), which quickly and cost-effectively increases the capacity of Verizon's existing fiber cables. DWDM expands the capacity of existing fiber without the costly, time-consuming measure of placing additional cable. DWDM technology has allowed Verizon to keep pace with a rapid increase in data traffic within our most active routes and with the new demand generated by the trans-Pacific cable between Hawaii and the mainland.

• Upgraded an air-pressure system that pumps air through Verizon's cable network to keep moisture out and prevent service problems. Many of Verizon's cables are pressurized to prevent water from leaking into the cables and interrupting service. With the system, loss of air pressure can be detected immediately and repaired before water damages the wires in the cable.

• Expanded availability of Verizon's high-speed Internet access service, Verizon Online DSL (digital subscriber line), to additional communities in Hawaii, most recently to Kaanapali, Maui, and Waimea, Hawaii. DSL is a high-speed connection to the Internet that enables users to surf the World Wide Web at speeds much faster than today's fastest analog modems. Verizon has more than one million DSL customers nationwide and expects to have between 1.2 to 1.3 million customers by year's end.

Nationwide, Verizon will invest about $12 billion in its wireline network this year. The Verizon wireline network - which carries more than 1.5 billion calls each day, along with bits of data - features more than 8.3 million miles of fiber-optic cable, more than any other local or long-distance company in the country.

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 128.5 million access line equivalents and 28.7 million wireless customers. Verizon is also the largest directory publisher in the world. A Fortune 10 company with 256,000 employees and approximately $65 billion in annual revenues, Verizon's global presence extends to more than 40 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. For more information on Verizon, visit www.verizon.com.