Verizon Communications has reached a tentative agreement with Baltimore County to lay miles of fiber-optic cable throughout the county.
If the deal is approved by the County Council in a scheduled May 15 vote, this will be the company?s first step toward eventually offering cable television to county residents.
Verizon is already offering cable television in Howard County and is laying fiber-optic cable in Anne Arundel, Prince George?s and Montgomery counties, said Sandra Arnette, a company spokeswoman.
“The response has been great in Howard,” said Arnette.
Although Verizon has not yet formally asked for a cable television franchise in Baltimore County, it plans to do so once the fiber-optic deal is sealed. If approved, the county will collect about $2.5 million from Verizon for the right to run fiber-optic cable to residents? doors.
Arnette estimates that it could take about six months for the county to approve Verizon?s franchise request and about a year to wire the entire county.
Baltimore County Council Member Kevin Kamenetz said he is looking forward to Verizon applying for a franchise.
“Once Verizon applies, we will undergo the process,” he said.
This means the competitive battle between Verizon and Comcast Corp. for the hearts and minds of cable and high-speed Internet users is just beginning to heat up.
Although Arnette declined to offer any subscription figures for its cable television foray into Howard County, she did say that Verizon had captured 24 percent of the market in Keller, Texas, which Verizon entered in September.
This is a high penetration for a company just entering a market, according to Michael Hodel, a telecommunications analyst with Chicago-based Morningstar Inc.
“Verizon?s strategy is to first roll out its services in the best potential markets — the most affluent areas,” Hodel said.
The second leg of the strategy is to run fiber-optic cable all the way to the customer?s door, he said. “This is an expensive strategy, but it?s building for the future.”
Heavily investing in such infrastructure will give Verizon an edge over many of its competitors, Hodel said.
That?s because such a network delivers super-fast Internet uploads and downloads, plus it can deliver a variety of other new services.
“If successful, this [fiber-optic] network could make it very difficult for cable competitors to justify the expense of a major upgrade,” he said.
“They will allow Verizon to reassert its dominance.”
