In a recent keynote address at the annual conference sponsored by the Fiber to the Home (FTTH) Council, Verizon Telecom Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Bob Ingalls said their competiitors are coming up short on their ???me-too??? claims of offering a fiber-rich network for high-speed Internet and TV service.
???As the FTTH Council has already acknowledged, Verizon is the only major provider in the country that is building and offering service over an all-fiber network,??? Ingalls said. ???The claims by the competition ??? most notably the cable industry???that they offer a similar fiber-dense network fall a mile short???the last mile.???
In September, the FTTH Council announced that Verizon has earned the council???s first certification for a network that provides fiber all the way to customers??? homes and offices.
In his presentation, Ingalls outlined Verizon???s plans for building the nation???s largest all-fiber network, including an $18 billion net investment over a seven-year period (2004-2010). Verizon told investors and analysts last week that it plans to pass 18 million premises with its fiber network by the end of 2010???more than half the approximately 33 million households in the company???s 28-state wireline service area. The company is on target to pass 6 million households by the end of this year.
Verizon is also seeing strong customer demand for FiOS TV, which was launched in its first market just over a year ago. By the end of the third quarter of 2006, Verizon expects to have more than 100,000 FiOS TV customers, and the company estimates that about two-thirds of FiOS TV customers have discontinued their cable TV service.
Verizon has set a target of 175,000 FiOS TV customers by year-end 2006 and making the service available to 1.8 million households. This would be a market penetration rate of approximately 10 percent. More than 1 million households are already currently eligible to purchase FiOS TV services, due to Verizon???s progress in obtaining state and local cable franchises.
Verizon???s goal is for FiOS TV to have a market penetration rate that ranges from 20 percent to 25 percent by 2010???or from 3 million to 4 million FiOS TV customers???based on its estimate that approximately 15 million households will be video-ready by then.
Nearly 80 percent of FiOS TV customers have purchased three services???voice, data and video???from Verizon, with customer loyalty that has exceeded the company???s initial expectations.
???Verizon???s FiOS Internet services continue to gain market share with unmatched reliability and speeds that make applications like photo and video sharing, blogging, digital movie downloads, video chat and conferencing, and interactive multi-player games a part of everyday living,??? Ingalls said. ???Meanwhile FiOS TV is setting the pace for signal clarity, HD channel lineup and video on demand, all at competitive prices.???
For more information, check out the Verizon press release.
