Verizon Pumps $480 Million Into Its California Network This Year

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Verizon Communications is investing more than $480 million this year to further modernize, expand and upgrade its telecommunications network in California. Including this latest figure, Verizon has plowed more than $3.2 billion into its facilities in the state over the past six years to ensure that its customers continue to receive high quality service and access to new telecommunications technology.

Verizon, which serves more than 3.7 million local telephone customers in California, is pumping more than $1.3 million a day into its network in the state this year. Nationwide, Verizon will continue to aggressively invest in its wireline network this year, spending more than $12 billion on its capital expense program. The Verizon wireline network - which carries more than 1.5 billion calls each day, along with billions of bits of data - features more than 8.3 million miles of fiber-optic cable, more than any other local or long-distance company in the country.

"Verizon is committed to ensuring that Californians have a telecommunications network that is among the very finest in the nation and one that helps invigorate economic development in the areas we serve," said Tim McCallion, California region president for Verizon. "The net result of our continuing network investment in California is the guarantee of higher quality, more reliable phone service. At the same time, we are deploying services that offer customers new ways to stay in touch with family and friends and help businesses run more efficiently."

Verizon's network investment in 2001 will allow the company to expand and enhance its digital switching and fiber-optic facilities to keep pace with the region's growth. The Verizon California network is 100 percent digital network and includes 317,597 miles of fiber-optic cable.

McCallion said Verizon is working toward several key milestones in California this year:
• Breaking ground on a $1.9 million project to build a fiber-optic link between Carpenteria and Thousand Oaks, completing a high-capacity conduit spanning the 160 miles from Santa Maria to Santa Monica. The project, due to be completed by the end of summer, will allow Verizon to carry its customers' voice and data traffic between the Central Coast and Southern California on its own network, thereby increasing reliability.

• Introducing Dense Wave Division Multiplexing technology that allows up to 32 wavelengths of light to travel along the same fiber-optic strand, quickly and cost-effectively expanding the capacity of Verizon's network. This technology has allowed Verizon to keep pace with a rapid increase in data traffic between Victorville and Bishop, as well as within the Los Angeles Basin and Orange County.

• The company plans to deploy 172 SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) rings in California network in 2001. SONET rings provide multiple choices of high-speed voice and data services and are self-healing, automatically rerouting telecommunications transmissions in the event of a service disruption.

• Availability of Verizon's high-speed Internet access service, Verizon Online DSL, continues to be expanded in 2001 to additional communities in California. Verizon's DSL is now available to approximately 1.7 million households statewide. DSL is a high-speed connection to the Internet that enables users to surf the World Wide Web at speeds much faster than today's fastest analog modems.

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 112 million access line equivalents and 27 million wireless customers. Verizon is also the largest directory publisher in the world. A Fortune 10 company with approximately 260,000 employees and more than $65 billion in annual revenues, Verizon's global presence extends to 40 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. For more information on Verizon, visit www.verizon.com.