Verizon's Innovation Hit Parade Provides Customers With Breakthrough Broadband and Entertainment Products and Services

NEW YORK - Verizon's telecommunications group has made a series of service and technology enhancements that are giving customers breakthrough broadband and entertainment products and services competitors can't match.

"We're peppering the marketplace with the kind of advanced new ideas that sets Verizon apart from the same old services our competitors offer," said Virginia Ruesterholz, president of Verizon's telecom group.  "We're working hard to impress customers with new products that fit the modern lifestyle and look ahead to the kinds of TV and Internet services customers will absolutely need in the near future and beyond."

Over the last few months, Verizon has launched breakthroughs including:

Internet

• Introduced 50 megabit-per-second (Mbps) FiOS Internet service in all 16 states where the company's all-fiber-optic, direct-to-the-home network is being built, delivering the broadband capacity increasingly needed by multiple Internet devices in the home.

• Offered upload speeds on the service of up to 20 Mbps, helping customers engage the emerging video and large-file sharing trend.
• Consolidated FiOS Internet download/upload speed plans in all FiOS markets to 50/20, 20/20, 20/5 and 10/2 Mbps, the fastest speed combinations in the country.
• Began offering StarzPlay video on demand to Verizon High Speed Internet (digital subscriber line) and FiOS Internet customers who subscribe to the service, presenting a broad range of entertainment for the burgeoning download market.
• Boosted Verizon's High Speed Internet service speed to 7 Mbps in markets where FiOS is not offered, giving roughly 3.5 million Verizon DSL customers in parts of 20 states download speeds that are more than double the previous top speed.

Entertainment

• Began launch of more than 20 new channels on the FiOS TV lineup, many in high definition (HD), and entered the New York City market with 100 HD channels.

• Launched FiOS TV Central, a Web page for monitoring things to see on FiOS TV and to soon remotely manage programming the home digital video recorder.
• Added standard-definition and high-definition titles to Verizon's video-on-demand (VOD) library, now with 10,000 titles per month, 70 percent of which are free; expanded the availability of HD VOD to all FiOS TV customers, with plans for 1,000 HD VOD titles per month by year-end.
• Began sending all programming as digital signals, including some programming that had been delivered as analog signals due to previous industry standards; continue to help Verizon customers make all TVs in the home capable of the clearest in video pictures on all channels.
• For the second year in a row, took top honors in PC Magazine's Internet service provider poll, with FiOS Internet service cited as tops in all categories.

Networking

• Kept Verizon's fiber-to-the-home commitment ahead of plan, enabling 11 million homes to get FiOS Internet and 9.6 million to get FiOS TV, with 1.4 million FiOS TV and 2 million FiOS Internet customers already enjoying the  benefits of fiber-optic services.

• Extended FiOS fiber service to some markets just outside Verizon's traditional service area, to provide FiOS to additional customers.
• Announced that starting in the third quarter, the company will install in the homes of new FiOS customers broadband  routers that are capable of 100 Mbps speeds inside the home and allow operation of as many as four Wi-Fi channels to assign for personal, guest, child or business private LAN use, along with other breakthrough features.

Innovative Bundles

• Created a new landline-wireless package called the Verizon Flex Double Play bundle for customers who want to rely on their Verizon Wireless phone for all their voice communications but also want FiOS Internet or Verizon High Speed Internet service for their home broadband needs and FiOS TV for their video service.

"Many of these are services that our cable competitors simply cannot provide, either because their coaxial cables cannot handle the traffic or because they don't have the product depth - including wireless - to make the deals customers want," Ruesterholz said.

The launch of FiOS TV service in New York City last month put the entire FiOS service line into the hottest, biggest market in the country, in competition with a series of established cable companies.  Verizon will employ advanced bendable fiber to reach the customers in multiple dwelling units.  The FiOS TV service launched in the city offers 100 HD channels, almost double the amount offered by each of Verizon's competitors.  FiOS Internet service had already been available in the city.

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 nearly 69 million customers nationwide.  Verizon's Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world, and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network.  A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 228,600 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of $93.5 billion.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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