Verizon Rolls Out Fiber Optic Lines in Bid to Gain Ground

Verizon Communications Inc. is connecting homes and businesses in California and Florida with fiber-optic lines capable of carrying high-speed video and Web access to recoup sales lost to wireless and cable companies.

Verizon, the largest U.S. local-telephone company, will replace copper wire in Huntington Beach and other parts of Southern California and in the Tampa and Hillsborough County areas of Florida, the New York-based company said Monday.

The service, part of Verizon’s plan to improve service to all homes and small businesses in the 29 states it serves, will be available within 60 days and cost $35 to $50 a month with no installation fee, spokeswoman Briana Gowing said.

The fiber extensions will cost $800 million this year. The project began in Keller, Texas, in May. Service will be available there next month, Gowing said. Verizon plans to run fiber past 1 million homes in nine U.S. states by the end of the year and plans to pass an additional 2 million homes next year, Verizon Network Services President Paul Lacouture said during a conference call.

Verizon is upgrading its network in states dominated by competitors SBC Communications Inc., the largest seller of local calling in California and Texas, and BellSouth Corp., the biggest phone company in the southeastern states. Verizon, with 55 million local lines, already extends fiber-optic cables to large businesses.

Shares of Verizon fell 12 cents to $34.48 on the New York Stock Exchange. They have fallen 1.7% this year after dropping 9.5% in 2003.

Verizon’s new Internet service, called Fios, is four to 15 times faster than digital subscriber lines that deliver Internet access over copper wires. The company will use the fiber-optic connections to provide other services, including videoconferencing and calling via computer networks, so-called voice over Internet protocol, or VOIP, Gowing said.

With DSL service, it can take as long as an hour to download a typical two-hour video, compared with about 15 minutes using the slowest Fios offering, Gowing said.

Verizon officials declined to name the other six states where fiber would be extended this year. New Jersey won’t be among them, Lacouture said during the call.

“New Jersey will remain at the back of the line when it comes to new investment dollars,” Verizon said in an April statement decrying a decision by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to make a “slight” increase in the rates Verizon can charge competitors to use its network.

The company also didn’t estimate spending totals for next year’s phase of the plan.