[RCN Launches Plan to Serve California Residents]
Company to Build on Success From Boston to Washington, D.C. by Bringing Advanced Package of Phone, Cable and Internet Services To West Coast
PRINCETON, N.J., June 4 /PRNewswire/ -- RCN Corporation (NASDAQ:RCNC) announced today that it has applied for regulatory authority to deliver its advanced package of phone, cable and Internet services to California residents over its own state-of-the-art fiber optic network.
"Our intent is to build a broadband fiber optic network in California capable of offering the highest-quality phone, cable and Internet services, with room left over for future applications," said David C. McCourt, Chairman and CEO of RCN. "We are going to bring the Golden State exactly the same quality network that is currently serving residents in the Boston to Washington, D.C. corridor."
In announcing its plans, the company cited the unprecedented and transcendent effect of the Internet on the modern telecommunications industry. "The Internet has changed the landscape dramatically," McCourt said. "It is changing everything we know and have known about the way people move words and images from one place to another. RCN understands these changes, which is why we are designing and building a brand new fiber optic network around the needs of the Internet."
In areas of California in which RCN intends to build network, Internet usage is up to 50% higher than the national average.
"We have already had several meetings with officials from a number of California municipalities, and they have reacted very positively to the prospect of local competition," said Michael J. Mahoney, RCN's President and Chief Operating Officer.
"Some of the officials we are meeting with are the same people who were there when I built cable and phone systems in Sacramento, Palo Alto and San Francisco a decade ago," added McCourt.
RCN's network construction in California will focus on the San Francisco to San Diego corridor, which represents roughly 8.6 million homes, and comprises approximately 10% of the nation's telecommunications usage and just 1.5% of its geography.
"The combination of our initial Boston to Washington corridor and these West Coast markets allows RCN to compete for nearly 40% of the U.S. telecommunications market with extremely favorable capital requirements, given the high densities," McCourt said. "Internet usage in the Silicon Valley is more than 50% higher than the national average. As the Northeast's largest regional ISP, we can't ignore that kind of potential, particularly given our ability to offer a unique high-speed product." |
