PHOENIXVILLE - Verizon Communications has wired nearly all of the borough with fiber optic lines and plans to directly compete with Comcast for cable television customers.
By Bill Rettew, Jr.
12/28/2004
Email to a friend Voice your opinion Printer-friendly
PHOENIXVILLE - Verizon Communications has wired nearly all of the borough with fiber optic lines and plans to directly compete with Comcast for cable television customers.
Advertisement
Verizon, a corporation primarily known as a telephone provider, plans to provide what representatives refer to as fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP), to every borough resident and business.
Subscribers would also be able to receive broadband internet connections from Verizon.
Plans hinge on the upstart cable television provider obtaining a franchise agreement with the borough.
By Pennsylvania statute, cable television providers are required to procure a franchise agreement with each individual municipality where it does business.
Councilman John Messina said that his monthly fee for Comcast Cable Television service is $69, and he pays a franchise fee that the borough receives of $2.63.
A similar fee would likely be levied on Verizon subscribers.
Stan Schuck, Verizon director of external affairs, expects that cable television subscribers will realize a cut in cost.
"If you have two competitors, the price will go down," said Schuck. "When there are two competitors, everybody wins."
Harry J. Mitchell, Director-Media Relations, Mid-Atlantic Bureau for Verizon, was excited that his company is being "transformed" by providing Internet access and cable television.
The $800 million capital investment in eight states by Verizon is a bid to introduce FTTP and will offer download speeds for computer users of 5 Mbps (megabits/second), 15 Mbps and 30 Mbps, with upstream speeds of up to 2 Mbps.
Mitchell compared the service that might be provided by Verizon to the current Comcast internet access. Mitchell said that the speed of the two providers compare, with current Comcast service equal to that of garden hose, while he said Verizon would provide the power and speed of a fire hose.
The Verizon rep said that upgrading of real time gaming graphics already in use by some Texas subscribers is "awesome."
Communities targeted for installation of FTTP during 2005 include 31 municipalities to the east of a line drawn from Phoenixville to Kennett Square, according to Schuck.
He also reported that work in much of the area to install FTTP is underway. Installation in the borough of West Chester is 90 percent complete.
Comcast performed much of the installation prior to informing the borough of its intentions. By right, the soon to be cable television provider was able to do the work without the borough realizing what had transpired.
Borough Manager Don Edwards was the first to discover Verizon's intent and has been in contact with Schuck.
Edwards said that a meeting was planned between the two parties on Dec. 20, but both sides failed to meet. Edwards expects to soon meet with Schuck to discuss franchise fees.
Mitchell enthusiastically said that the leap in technology will have yet untold effects.
"There are things we haven't thought of," said Mitchell. "We will be able to accommodate applications that are still on, or not even on the drawing board. Maybe it will be an application that a 12-year-old kid might develop."
Verizon expects to hire between 3,000 and 5,000 new employees nationwide to help build the fledgling network.
Neither the borough or Verizon had a firm estimate about when service will start.
Comcast representatives did not return phone calls by late Tuesday. |
