Keeping Virginia Connected: Verizon Invested $659 Million in State's Wireline Telecom Infrastructure in 2014

RICHMOND, Va., April 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Virginia's consumers, businesses and government agencies continued to benefit from Verizon's 2014 investment of $659 million in its industry-leading fiber-optic and wireline networks. 

In addition, Verizon Wireless invested $537 million in 2014 on network upgrades and expansions in the Virginia/Maryland/Washington, D.C., region. 

"Virginia's residents and businesses enjoy some of the fastest Internet speeds in the country," said Christopher Childs, president of wireline network operations for Verizon's Mid-Atlantic South region. "Verizon's advanced networks, products and services are well positioned to meet Virginians' increasingly sophisticated broadband, communications and entertainment needs today and into the future. Our network technology fuels economic growth in Virginia and empowers people and businesses to connect however, whenever and wherever they want."

Increasing the Fiber in Virginia's Diet

Fiber-optic networks strengthen communities, and last year Verizon continued to deploy its 100 percent fiber-optic network, with its FiOS TV and FiOS Internet services, in Virginia. At year's end, FiOS services were available to more than 1.35 million households and businesses in Northern Virginia, Richmond and surrounding areas, and the Hampton Roads region. Verizon has placed more than 20,670 miles of fiber optics directly to homes and businesses in the state – equivalent to a round trip between Richmond, Virginia, and the Richmond suburb of Melbourne, Australia.

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.

In 2014, Verizon filled the Hampton Roads community of Ocean View with fiber, replacing all the company's copper facilities in the area served by its local switching office with fiber optics.

Other major wireline infrastructure programs in 2014 included:

The Fastest, Most Reliable Internet Service Got Even Better in 2014

• 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 ultrafast 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.

Being a Responsible Environmental Steward

In addition to its network investment, Verizon is committed to improving the quality of life in the communities it serves. As part of that commitment, the company is focused on reducing its carbon footprint by adopting sustainable business practices. For example, the company's fifth annual recycling rally at its Ashburn campus collected 68,343 pounds – or 34 tons – of electronic waste from employees and the public, including TVs, printers, desktop PCs, VCRs, DVDs and computer monitors – all of which will be kept out of landfills.

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 Virginia 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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