And another $17 billion to fiber the whole country
Competition is heating up for Verizon as its massive team of fiber optic technicians hurry to network together states stretching from California to New York. Verizon is competing with companies like Cablevision, Time Warner Cable and others to not only gain market share but also to keep it from losing more customers.
Verizon is currently on a massive project to replace its aging copper lines with new highly durable and ultra-fast fiber lines. Verizon hopes to connect roughly 16 million homes and apartments across the US, with an estimated 3.1 million homes in New York City alone. The cost of such a mammoth project is huge. Verizon says it expects to spend roughly $20 billion by 2010 to complete the new network. With it, Verizon will be able to offer better phone, video, Internet and other IP services.
Companies such as Comcast and Vonage are striking hard in the phone business, taking a chunk of customers away from Verizon virtually on a daily basis. Comcast is also involved in cable TV and other businesses that Verizon is not. However, with the new optical network in place, Verizon is rolling out a new type of TV service called FiOS TV.
With FiOS TV, a digital signal is sent through a fiber optic network rather than traditional copper cable. The optic network provides massive bandwidth and allows Verizon to scale up video quality as the time comes. More HDTV channels, multi-channel audio and better quality are all part of Verizon's game plan.
Verizon is also introducing a dual-tuner DVR with its FiOS TV home service. The DVR allows customers to watch programs from anywhere in the house using streaming video. The DVR will act as a central video hub, streaming video and audio to other client hubs throughout the house. FiOS customers are required to pay $3.95/month per client box and $19.95/month for the DVR hub. DailyTech previously reported that TiVo is also readying its dual-tuner CableCARD DVR. TiVo stated that its Series3 tuners are already in the hands of several major cable networks for testing.
Verizon is also planning to roll out FiOS Internet services on a national scale. Currently, Verizon's FiOS services are available in a limited number of select areas. With newer residential and business developments, Verizon is going in early, hoping to persuade builders to allow it to install fiber lines to each unit. Certain builders however, have prohibited Verizon from installing fiber lines despite their obvious advantages. Verizon also has to compete with AT&T and the family of Bell companies.
As the race for wiring up the nation in fiber heats up, Verizon along with its competitors are hoping that the big short term investments will bring in long term rewards.
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