Verizon Investing $4 Million To Better Serve Downtown Boston Customers

BOSTON - Verizon customers in downtown Boston soon will receive improved, more reliable phone service as the result of a $4 million investment to upgrade the company's telecommunications network.

Verizon plans to replace and install new fiber-optic cables and associated electronic equipment in approximately 20 new and existing downtown high-rise buildings. The company has started work on one building and will expand to additional sites during the next 12 months.

This investment will allow Verizon to provide high-speed, high-capacity services such as DS-1, DS-3 and SONET (synchronous optical network) connections to business customers and meet the increased demand for local and long-distance calling and Internet access.

SONET rings also provide multiple routes for voice and high-speed data services and are self-healing, automatically rerouting telecommunications transmissions in the event of a service disruption.

In the first phase of this project, the company is installing new cables in a high-rise office building at One Lincoln Street. Verizon expects to complete this phase of the cable installation project by the end of April.

During the past three years, Verizon has invested more than $2 billion in the network serving Massachusetts.

"This project demonstrates Verizon's commitment to build and maintain an advanced telecommunications network throughout the Bay State," said Donna Cupelo, region president Verizon Massachusetts/Rhode Island. "We continue to invest in our state-of-the-art infrastructure to maintain service excellence, as well to provide a platform for high-speed access to the Internet, work-at-home capabilities and a host of other advanced services."

"Whether we're making significant network upgrades or offering new services or new packages of local, long-distance and broadband services, Verizon is helping consumers and businesses make progress every day," said Cupelo.

Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) is one of the world's leading providers of communications services. Verizon companies are the largest providers of wireline and wireless communications in the United States, with 135.8 million access line equivalents and 32.5 million Verizon Wireless customers. Verizon is also the largest directory publisher in the world. With more than $67 billion in annual revenues and 229,500 employees, Verizon's global presence extends to 33 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. For more information on Verizon, visit www.verizon.com.

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