Verizon aims FiOS TV at small, midsize businesses

Verizon is ramping up its competitive battle with cable companies by offering its fiber optic television services to the small and midsize business markets.

The FiOS TV for Business plans can now be accessed by small and midsize businesses in all areas where Verizon already offers FiOS coverage. Currently, FiOS is available in select parts of California, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Virginia.

Ken Wiley, who serves as Verizon’s senior marketing manager for FiOS product management, says that FiOS TV for Business will be targeted at a wide variety of businesses, from banks to doctor’s offices to bars and taverns. Businesses can get a basic package for $50 per month that offers between 20 and 25 high-definition channels and a premiere package that offers between 25 to 30 HD channels. The company will also offer a special deal for bars and taverns that have multiple televisions starting at $150 per month and increasing depending on how many TVs need to be serviced.

Wiley also says that business customers will be able to bundle their FiOS TV services with FiOS voice and data services, and thus save between 15% and 20% off what they’d pay for all three services individually. Verizon is offering a rebate of $409 to all new business customers who signed up for FiOS television, voice and data services for a year.

Earlier this year, Verizon quietly began testing an enterprise-grade version of its FiOS high-speed Internet service with a prototype system ready for official trials 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 has also said that it has been running trials for FiOS services that offer even faster speeds than its current offerings, with peak downloads maxing out at 100Mbps.