Mary-Louise Hoffman
Verizon has completed almost 17,000 miles of fiber optic work in New York City in an effort to meet data and voice communication needs of residential and business customers throughout the city.
The company’s goal is to deliver high-speed connectivity by building an all fiber infrastructure that encompasses the city’s five boroughs, Verizon said Thursday.
Verizon offers an FiOS broadband service that aims to provide download speeds of up to 500 megabits per second and upload speeds of 100 Mbps.
“We have invested more than $3 billion in the city alone, making it one of the most ‘fiberized’ cities on the planet,” said Kevin Service, Verizon president for Northeast region.
“And we have teams out on the streets every day knocking on the doors of landlords and property-management companies, and designing and engineering how to get FiOS services from out under the streets into their tenants’ apartments, businesses and offices,” Service added.
The company tested a microtrenching technique under a pilot program designed to make fiber installations less disruptive on streets and sidewalks.
Verizon also partnered with New York-based business incubators Take the Helm and HarlemGarage to give startups access to FiOS technology.
