Local
Verizon promises citywide FiOS access within a decade
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
November 24, 2008
Verizon has agreed to install its fiber optic network citywide within 10 years and include a chunk of Northeast in the initial phase, a step up from earlier promises and likely enough to win D.C. Council support for the District’s newest cable television provider.
The 15-year franchise agreement between Verizon and the D.C. government was approved Friday by a council committee, setting up a vote of the full council next month. The council negotiated several major changes to the deal submitted by the Fenty administration, most notably that Verizon must have its FiOS network available District-wide within nine years, with an optional 12-month extension.
“We didn’t want to permit cherry-picking or redlining or continuing the digital divide in any part of the city,” said Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh, who chairs the Public Services and Consumer Affairs Committee. “It was a deal breaker for me that we got the whole city.”
FiOS is Verizon’s fiber optic cable television/telephone/Internet service. Its arrival heralds the first major competition for Comcast.
“This is a long-term project for us,” said Karen Campbell, vice president and chief policy officer with Verizon D.C. “We’ve always had every intention of building throughout the city.”
Within three years FiOS will be available in most of Ward 4 and all of Ward 3 in Northwest, Barry Farm and historic Anacostia in Southeast, and Deanwood and eastern Capitol Hill in Northeast — the Northeast sections are late additions. Verizon will add the Southwest Waterfront and Buzzard Point, most of Ward 1, Dupont and Logan circles and Shaw within six years.
The final three-year phase will bring FiOS to Brookland, Congress Heights, downtown, Georgetown, midtown and Lincoln Heights. The initial deal made no promises about when these neighborhoods would get FiOS.
The long timeline frustrated Ward 1 Councilman Jim Graham.
“People want this,” Graham said. “And the further out you are, especially given the economy, people wonder whether it’s ever going to happen.”
The 15-year franchise agreement between Verizon and the D.C. government was approved Friday by a council committee, setting up a vote of the full council next month. The council negotiated several major changes to the deal submitted by the Fenty administration, most notably that Verizon must have its FiOS network available District-wide within nine years, with an optional 12-month extension.
“We didn’t want to permit cherry-picking or redlining or continuing the digital divide in any part of the city,” said Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh, who chairs the Public Services and Consumer Affairs Committee. “It was a deal breaker for me that we got the whole city.”
FiOS is Verizon’s fiber optic cable television/telephone/Internet service. Its arrival heralds the first major competition for Comcast.
“This is a long-term project for us,” said Karen Campbell, vice president and chief policy officer with Verizon D.C. “We’ve always had every intention of building throughout the city.”
Within three years FiOS will be available in most of Ward 4 and all of Ward 3 in Northwest, Barry Farm and historic Anacostia in Southeast, and Deanwood and eastern Capitol Hill in Northeast — the Northeast sections are late additions. Verizon will add the Southwest Waterfront and Buzzard Point, most of Ward 1, Dupont and Logan circles and Shaw within six years.
The final three-year phase will bring FiOS to Brookland, Congress Heights, downtown, Georgetown, midtown and Lincoln Heights. The initial deal made no promises about when these neighborhoods would get FiOS.
The long timeline frustrated Ward 1 Councilman Jim Graham.
“People want this,” Graham said. “And the further out you are, especially given the economy, people wonder whether it’s ever going to happen.”
