Verizon says it has begun installing fiber to the premises technology to businesses and homes in Keller, Texas, a community in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The first services on the network area expected to be launched last this year.
FTTP equipment has already been placed inside Verizon's local central switching office as well as on aerial cables, in underground conduits and buried in the ground throughout neighborhoods in Keller. The company has already placed more 440,000 feet of fiber-optic cabling in multiple Keller neighborhoods.
"FTTP is moving from field trials and the lab to the real world, and it's happening in Keller first," Verizon Network Services Group President Paul Lacouture says. "This
technology will transform our network and the products we will be able to offer to consumers and businesses. Once deployed, for example, the slowest broadband connection we'll offer customers will be three times as fast as broadband speeds commonly available today. In short, we are building a new network that will make us the broadband leader in the 21st century."
Some of services resulting from the FTTP build will feature download speeds of 5mbps, 15mbps and 30mbps. Verizon expects to begin marketing these products in Keller and elsewhere later this year. The new network will also support video applications and other new services.
"In addition to new products this technology will make available for our customers, it will lead to operational cost-savings for Verizon. FTTP will allow us, for example, to see a problem on a line much faster than today, and then we can fix it quickly, often before the customer would even notice," Lacouture says.
The company has begun preparatory work for similar FTTP deployments elsewhere in Texas and in several other states. Overall, Verizon plans to pass about 1 million homes in parts of nine states with this new technology by the end of the year. Later this year, the company will announce the additional FTTP deployment locations.
Verizon also announced today that it will open in Dallas a new national technical support center for customers of products delivered over FTTP. Initially, the call center will create about 50 new jobs. Verizon will add staff as the company expands FTTP deployment.
