Verizon Eyes New York Expansion of FiOS

NEW YORK, April 16: The
telco Verizon has filed an application with the New York City Department of
Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) for its FiOS TV to be
expanded across the entire city of New York.

Time Warner Cable is New
York City’s dominant provider, providing services in Manhattan, Staten Island,
Queens and parts of Brooklyn. Cablevision services the Bronx and other areas in
Brooklyn. The result for NYC consumers, Verizon says, is “little or no
competitive choice for their cable TV news, information and entertainment.”

Verizon submitted the plan
in response to a solicitation DoITT issued on April 11 seeking proposals for
franchises for the provision of cable TV throughout the city.

“This important step sets
in motion the process for Verizon to offer choice and competition in the
traditional monopoly cable TV market to all the residents of the five boroughs
of New York City,” said Monica Azare, Verizon’s senior VP for New York and
Connecticut. “For too long, residents have been locked in to one provider for
their cable TV entertainment. With an award of the first-ever citywide
franchise, Verizon will be able to throw open the doors to competition,
providing real choice and real value.”

If Verizon receives
approval for the rollout, it aims to begin offering FiOS to New York City
residents later this year. “Our investment in the city is historic, which is
reflected in the citywide nature of our plan,” Azare said. “When our fiber
deployment project is completed it will reach to each and every borough,
neighborhood, boulevard, avenue and street, without regard to the demographics
of a particular area. More importantly, city residents will be able to take
advantage of the power of fiber optics delivered straight to their doors.”

This 12-year proposed
agreement is designed to serve the needs of approximately 3.1 million
households. The plan will see Verizon building its fiber-optic network
throughout the entire city by midyear 2014. This will make Verizon the largest
provider of television service in New York City, and the only one serving the
entire city. The goal is to get FiOS TV service to customers in all five
boroughs within a six-year time frame as Verizon’s wire centers are upgraded to
being video-capable.

FiOS TV will include an
all-digital channel lineup of more than 400 channels and 150 HD channels by
year-end, and a growing library of more than 10,000 video-on-demand selections.

—By Mansha Daswani