Innovation and Telecom Companies’ Advanced Networks Power Telecom Future, Seidenberg Tells NXTcomm; Broadband, IP and Mobility are Key for Customers

CHICAGO - The defining experiences of the 21st century digital lifestyle - including social networking, e-commerce, media sharing and mobile media - depend on the advanced networks being deployed by telecom companies such as Verizon, Verizon Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg said today during his keynote speech at the NXTcomm conference here.

Seidenberg cited the company’s FiOS network - the only all-fiber-to-the-home network being deployed on a mass scale in the United States - as a key example of investment and innovation leadership. In his speech, Seidenberg introduced the Bayer family of Massapequa, N.Y., as the one millionth FiOS Internet customer. [See separate news release on www.verizon.com/news].

Seidenberg also noted that nearly 500,000 subscribers are now watching FiOS TV. The subscription TV service was first introduced in September 2005, just 20 months ago.

Both the FiOS Internet and FiOS TV milestones were passed during the second quarter of this year.

After many years of investment and innovation, Seidenberg said, the telecom industry is now pushing the envelope on speed and providing a path to the future. Major telecom companies have become the innovators, and they are pushing the whole technology industry forward.

“Network investment pushes the whole industry forward by fueling innovation in consumer electronics, equipment, content and software,” Seidenberg said. "It also generates economic benefits far beyond our industry by transforming the way business gets done - squeezing out costs, speeding up time, and connecting millions of people around the globe to the opportunities of the information economy. He continued:

"Every job created through broadband investment creates four jobs in the broader economy. And wireless has become one of the world’s great growth engines, accounting for 2.5 percent of all the jobs in the United States today.

“The new frontier for innovation is the access network. DSL got us into the Internet business. Fiber puts us in the TV and multimedia business -- with faster Internet speeds, higher-quality high-definition content, and more interactive capabilities than any other platform, plus the ability to grow as customers find creative ways to use this new medium.”

During his speech, Seidenberg cited a number of key network and business milestones.

In wireless:

Verizon’s 3G broadband network now reaches 200 million people across the country.


Verizon is upgrading with Rev. A, which will give a big boost to upload speeds and enhance the mobile broadband experience.


By the end of the decade, Verizon will be ready for 4G, which will embed wireless broadband into all kinds of consumer electronics. One forecast predicts that by 2012 there will be 50 million consumer devices in use that have embedded wireless capabilities.
In wireline:

Verizon’s FiOS fiber-to-the-home network will reach 9 million homes by the end of 2007 and 18 million by the end of the decade.


FiOS Internet service delivers up to 50 Mbps (megabits per second) speeds today and is capable of 100 Mbps and beyond. Verizon is already trialing 100 megabit service today over the company’s existing B-PON architecture.


Verizon is moving from megabits to gigabits. Verizon will begin to use GPON technology in all FiOS deployments, which will increase speeds downstream by four times and upstream by eight times.


And by the end of the decade - when cable competitors say they’ll be transitioning to DOCSIS 3.0 - Verizon will be preparing for the next generation of electronics that will take the home consumer to the next level of broadband, at speeds that rival what Verizon delivers over its most advanced business networks today.
For business customers:

During 2007, Verizon will add about 6,000 miles to its all-optical ultra long haul network to deliver the reliability, resiliency and 40 gigabit speeds that will make the Internet run better and faster.


Verizon connects customers in major cities across the United States with a converged packet architecture that carries all kinds of service - voice, video, data and Internet - to a common IP network.


Verizon will extend this technology to major cities in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe, which will help multinational customers make the transition to IP and ultimately to bandwidth-on-demand.
Seidenberg highlighted three fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) services that Verizon announced today to make it easier for businesses and government agencies to help employees be more mobile and productive. FMC, like other mobility services, allow wired and wireless communications using any device, anywhere, anytime. [See separate news release at www.verizon.com/news].

“By believing in the future, the companies here at NXTcomm have turned this industry into one of the great growth engines of our time,” Seidenberg said. "In the process, we have grown the pie for our investors, created opportunity for our employees, and delivered new choices to our customers.

“Innovation has changed the way we think and the way we work. We’ve always been a network company, but now that term has a broader meaning - not just the physical wires and towers we operate, but also the human networks we create by expanding our virtual presence in people’s lives,” he said

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America’s most reliable wireless network, serving 60.7 million customers nationwide. Verizon’s Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world, and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation’s most advanced fiber-optic network. A Dow 30 company, Verizon has a diverse workforce of more than 238,000 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of more than $88 billion. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.