Verizon will soon bring to portions of the Angola, Delaware City, Hockessin, Middletown, Newark and Talleyville areas one of the most significant advancements in telecommunications technology in the past 100 years.

The company today announced it is building a fiber-optic network that will deliver faster data speeds and crystal-clear voice to residence and business customers here - and also has the capability to offer a full suite of future video services. The company will seek any necessary agreements before offering cable service in a particular community.

Known as fiber-to-the-premises, or FTTP, the fiber-optic network uses hair-thin strands of fiber and optical electronics to directly link homes and businesses to Verizon's network. The new network replaces the traditional copper-wire connections and will unleash a range of advanced communication services.

Verizon has begun building its FTTP network in a number of locations in and around the Angola, Hockessin, Middletown, Newark and Talleyville areas, as well as Delaware City and nearby communities, such as Kirkwood, St. Georges, Glasgow and Red Lion. Verizon will announce plans to serve other towns as construction schedules expand. Verizon's contractors in these areas are notifying residents with letters and door-hangers before beginning construction in their neighborhoods. To lessen inconvenience and reduce the impact on local streets, Verizon and its contractors use the latest installation techniques and existing underground cable pathways or utility poles, or both, whenever possible.

Residents can call the contractor operating in their community with any construction questions. Verizon Delaware customers in areas where fiber is being installed and who have buried telephone cable on their property will receive a door hangar and a letter listing the contractor's name and toll-free phone number. Verizon's Delaware contractors are: Chowns, Inc., Communications Construction Group LLC, Danella Line Services, Inc., Hypower, Inc., Mastec North America and Petrocelli LLC.

Although the use of fiber optics is common for long-distance and inter-city communications throughout the telecommunications industry, Verizon is one of the first major telecom companies to begin using it to directly connect homes and businesses to the network on a widespread scale.

Including Delaware, Verizon is already constructing FTTP networks in 14 states - 50 percent of the states where it offers landline communications services.

To help build the network across the country, Verizon will hire between 3,000 and 5,000 new employees by the end of this year, including at least 150 in Delaware. Locally, many Verizon technicians are learning how to install the fiber-based network facilities required to bring advanced data services to customers.

For more information about Verizon FiOS, see our Verizon FiOS category or our article, "Have you caught the FiOS fever?"