Verizon FiOS Sets Sights on Big City Markets

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6:05 am on January 7, 2008 | Category: Business, Telecom Services, Internet, Television

American telecom giant, Verizon Communications, is aiming to launch its budding FiOS TV service in major cities by the end of this year, in an ongoing effort to compete on level ground with cable companies in the pay-TV market.

Verizon reported 717,000 FiOS TV customers at the end of September, and ended 2007 close to the one-million mark, according to analysts. The company has rolled out fiber-optic television services in parts of 13 states, mostly on the East Coast, but also in Texas, and most recently, Oregon. It has focused almost exclusively on suburban areas, where it is already beginning to take a bite out of the cable industry.

In 2008, Verizon plans to aggressively pursue heavily urbanized markets, and hopes to launch FiOS in at least a couple of big cities by the end of the year. Unlike suburbs, which consist mostly of single-family dwellings, big cities are rich with large residential buildings, each of which are home to dozens or even hundreds or potential customers.

Analysts expect these multiple dwelling units (MDUs) to raise the stakes in the cable-telecom battle for dominance of the entertainment and communications sectors.

“One of our strategies for ‘08 is clearly to focus more on the MDU market and some of the bigger cities,” commented Verizon Telecom president, Virginia Ruesterholz, who is head of the FiOS project. “We’re in negotiations to acquire franchises with several cities, like New York and Washington. We’re starting with some in Pennsylvania. I think we’re on the right track to get (licenses) in some of the big metropolitan areas. Our goal is clearly to be in at least a couple of them, at least by the end of 2008.”