Verizon expands 50Mbps FiOS footprint

LAS VEGAS – Verizon plans to expand its 50Mbps FiOS Internet service to cover all 10 million homes and businesses that are currently within its FiOS network footprint.

During his keynote address at NXTComm08 in Las Vegas today, Verizon COO Denny Strigl said that all homes and businesses in Verizon’s 16-state FiOS footprint will have the option of subscribing to Verizon’s 50Mbps FiOS service starting next week. The service, which is currently the fastest of all Verizon FiOS service options, allows peak download speeds of 50Mbps and peak upload speeds of 20Mbps.

Recently, Verizon has begun tailoring its FiOS technology more toward enterprise users, and is currently testing out an installation in a four-story office building in Annapolis Junction, Md., that the company says will be ready to be occupied in September. Currently known as the Converged Fiber-to-the-Desktop service, Verizon’s future enterprise offering will be based on the same Fiber-To-The-Premises (FTTP) technology as its current consumer offerings.

Verizon today offers its FiOS fiber-optic voice, data and video services to roughly 10 million homes and businesses by 16 different states, and the company projects that its FiOS footprint will reach more than 18 million homes and businesses by 2010. The upgraded 50Mbps FiOS service will replace its existing 30Mbps offerings in parts of California, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington. FiOS customers in Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island already have access to the 50Mbps option.

Looking toward the future, Strigl told the NXTComm audience that Verizon plans on adding 3 million new households and businesses to its FiOS footprint per year. He also said that Verizon had been running trials for FiOS technology that would offer peak download speeds of 100Mbps. While Strigl wouldn't commit to a firm timeline for upgrading FiOS to 100Mbps, he said he expects it to “come to us in not too distant future.”

Verizon offers its 50Mbps FiOS service for $89.95 per month in New York and Virginia, and for $139.95 per month with an annual service plan everywhere else. Currently, Verizon has an estimated 1.8 million FiOS Internet subscribers and 1.2 million FiOS TV subscribers.