Making a Difference: Verizon Invested More Than $2.3 Billion in 2014 to Further Strengthen New York's and Connecticut's Telecom Infrastructure

NEW YORK, April 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumers, businesses and government agencies in New York and Connecticut continued to benefit from Verizon's 2014 investment of more than $1.5 billion in its industry-leading fiber-optic and wireline networks. 

Since 1995, Verizon has spent in excess of $1 billion each year to further build, refine and modernize its land-based infrastructure in the two states.

In addition, Verizon Wireless invested more than $830 million throughout New York and northern New Jersey. In the New England states, which include Connecticut, Verizon Wireless completed $378 million in wireless network enhancements throughout the region. These investments gave Verizon's customers improved data speeds, and enhanced their network capacity within the region. Verizon Wireless also continued to expand its industry-leading 4G LTE and XLTE networks across the region, to deploy small cells and distributed antenna systems in high-traffic areas, and to roll out Voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology.

"Verizon's networks make the region's economy and commerce percolate on a daily basis," said Leecia Eve, Verizon vice president of government affairs for New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. "Our networks are intertwined with the daily workings of the region and its residents. Our customers in this region – whether they are large multi-national corporations or families on the go – require advanced communications networks, and their broadband and video needs grow more sophisticated each day. Our network investments demonstrate our commitments to energizing the region's economy, providing sustainable growth, and helping families with their daily lives.

"We are proud that our networks and our 22,000 employees across the area provide an engine for economic growth, remove traditional technological boundaries, and empowers people and businesses to connect however, whenever and wherever they want," she said.

2014 Accomplishments in New York

The company has spent in excess of $3.5 billion to build a robust fiber-optic network throughout the five boroughs of New York City, making it the largest municipal telecommunications project undertaken in U.S. history.

To date, the company has installed more than 15,000 miles of fiber-optic cabling across the city.

View an animated description of Verizon's fiber deployment in the city here.

"When you consider the amount of equipment installed, the hours dedicated by our employees to this effort and the challenges that were overcome, you can really appreciate the enormity of this project," said Eve. "But the big payoff is for New York City and its residents. New York now has an advanced, state-of-the-art, resilient infrastructure that catapults it ahead of any of the other world cities. We are proud of the work we are doing, and we salute our employees for their hard work on this historic project."

In addition, Verizon last year began providing award-winning FiOS services in two new communities: Glen Cove on Long Island, and Harrison in Westchester County. It also upgraded all customers in two central office areas – Belle Harbor in Queens and Orchard Park, outside of Buffalo – to more reliable fiber-optics services. The company also continued its collaboration with business incubators by providing its super-fast FiOS Internet to Harlem's My Image Studios, (MIST Harlem) to assist startups to help implement their business models and grow.

Fiber-optic networks strengthen communities, and last year Verizon continued deployment of its 100 percent fiber-optic network, with its FiOS TV and FiOS Internet services. At year's end, FiOS services were available to more than 4 million New York and Connecticut homes and businesses. Verizon has placed more than 161 million feet of fiber optic cables in the two states.

Fiber is more reliable than copper. Verizon has improved phone service reliability for more than 800,000 customers nationally by moving their service from copper to the company's advanced, all-fiber infrastructure. Fiber is less susceptible than copper to moisture and water damage and offers a better overall service experience. Nationwide, Verizon now serves more landline customers on its all-fiber infrastructure than on its legacy copper network.

Verizon's Major 2014 Wireline Infrastructure Programs

• Significantly raising the bandwidth bar with FiOS Quantum Internet.
  • SpeedMatch, offering upload speeds that match download speeds at no additional cost was one way Verizon said thank you to many of its FiOS customers. FiOS Quantum Internet upload speeds rival or exceed most download speeds offered by competitors. The ultra-fast speed delivers technology that gives people the best way to upload photos and videos, send or back up files, conduct video chats and use multiple Internet devices simultaneously, among other bandwidth-intensive applications.
  • FiOS Quantum Gateway Router, which provides small businesses and consumers the fastest Wi-Fi available from any provider, with guest Wi-Fi and enhanced parental controls.

No More DVR Battles, and TV Went Everywhere

• FiOS Quantum TV gives customers more choices and control than ever before, including the ability to record up to 12 shows at once; pause and rewind live TV on any TV in the home; and store up to 200 hours of HD programs.
• The FiOS Mobile App offers 168 in-home channels, 88 out-of-home channels and 70,000 on-demand content features over select broadband-connected tablets or smartphones.
• FiOS TV Everywhere offers 89 channels over a broadband-connected PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone.
• FiOS TV's advanced, interactive search and navigation was upgraded to make it even easier for customers to find and enjoy what they want to watch.
• FiOS TV features the most video on demand, with 100,000-plus FiOS On Demand video titles to rent or own, plus premium on-demand content packages with sports, movie and international programming.

Investing in Superior Customer Experiences

• The company has launched a number of customer-experience management tools to provide an even better experience for its residential and small-business customers, ranging from a tech notification tool, which keeps customers updated on when a Verizon installation technician will arrive prior to their appointment; to mobile coach, which enables supervisors to work with reps in real time to better serve customers. These tools were developed with direct input from employees who use them daily.
• Customers can take advantage of Verizon's In-Home Agent application for automated self-service.

Thank You for Making Us No. 1 (Again and Again)

Customers ranked Verizon Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Very Small Business Wireline Service in the J.D. Power "J.D. Power 2014 U.S. Business Wireline Satisfaction Study." And, for the second straight year, FiOS Internet was rated No. 1 in the 2014 American Customer Satisfaction Index. In addition, customers made Verizon FiOS Internet the recipient of PC Magazine's Readers' Choice Award for the ninth consecutive year.

Providing End-to-End Solutions for Video Customers

Verizon has combined powerful assets to further the company's delivery of media and entertainment services through its Verizon Digital Media Services business unit.

With its next-generation platform and global content delivery network, Verizon Digital Media Services delivers end-to-end video solutions for best-in-class TV Everywhere and superior experiences to any device, anywhere, at any time. The interplay of assets seamlessly orchestrated among a secure media cloud, an agile video backbone and responsive intelligent edges delivers flexible and robust video solutions.

Enterprise Business Solutions Tailored to Meet Client Needs

Verizon Enterprise Solutions oversees all of Verizon's solutions for large-business, wholesale and government customers in New York and Connecticut and globally, including a portfolio of cloud and IT, enterprise mobility, security and advanced communications offerings. Its key client segments include healthcare, manufacturing and automotive, financial services and large government agencies. In 2014, Verizon:

• Unveiled the Verizon Cyber Intelligence Center, which offers global client organizations advanced detection and response capabilities to better manage and mitigate cyberthreats.
• Expanded its Verizon Financial Network to more than 50 new markets, services and data centers in Europe and North America to give trading firms and other financial institutions secure and on-demand access to markets and applications, in addition to increased flexibility and scalability.
• Converted five Verizon data centers that provide enterprise-class colocation services to carrier-neutral facilities, including locations in Boston; Denver; Elmsford, New York; Manassas, Virginia; and Seattle.
• Invested heavily in its cloud and networking services:
  • Released a new service model and a set of features and functionality for the company's cloud infrastructure and storage platform. Verizon Cloud now includes a variety of services tiers, onboarding and workload migration services, and several deployment options ranging from public cloud to private, on-premises cloud. Additionally, Verizon Cloud opened a Marketplace where enterprises can buy software-based IT services to run on top of Verizon's cloud infrastructure.
  • Launched Secure Cloud Interconnect service so that enterprises can use multiple clouds at once via Verizon's Private IP networking, including the Verizon Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, HP Helion Managed Cloud Service,  the Salesforce Customer Success Platform and Google Cloud Interconnect.
  • Received an Authority to Operate from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), paving the way for U.S. government agencies to easily and securely migrate mission-critical workloads to the cloud.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE,Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, with 108.6 million retail connections nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers worldwide. A Dow 30 company with more than $127 billion in 2014 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of 176,200. For more information, visit www.verizon.com/news/.

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SOURCE Verizon

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