Verizon said it will extend its fiber-optic network to a total of 25 of its local service areas in Virginia by the end of 2006, making more than 300,000 households capable of receiving the company's FiOS TV service. The commitment follows the adoption of cable choice legislation signed into law by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine on March 10. Verizon said it will provide more details about the build out in the coming months.

Verizon also announced additional FiOS TV rollouts to 73,000 Fairfax County households and has begun taking orders for the service. These households are located in portions of Annandale, Falls Church, Springfield, Burke, Newington, McLean, Tyson's Corner, Oakton and Wolf Trap.

Verizon currently has authority to offer its competitive FiOS TV service in Fairfax County, the cities of Falls Church and Fairfax and the town of Herndon. The company began offering the service in Herndon and Reston last November.

"This legislation will enable Virginians to get more competition and choice for their cable services," said Robert W. Woltz Jr., president of Verizon Virginia. The new law, which becomes effective July 1, gives Verizon a more certain environment in which to make investment decisions about where and when to build advanced networks that can deliver video services. It provides a streamlined process for Verizon and other telecommunications companies that want to offer consumers an alternative to cable incumbents' service.

Verizon also is negotiating with additional northern Virginia communities including Loudoun, Arlington and Prince William counties, and the Town of Leesburg. Franchise approvals from these localities would bring competition and choice to tens of thousands more homes where Verizon is building its fiber-to-the premises (FTTP) network.

Verizon is the only major telecom company in the United States deploying fiber directly into homes on a mass scale. Verizon's all-fiber network - over which the company is delivering voice, high-speed FiOS Internet Service and FiOS TV - is currently under construction in more than half the states where the company offers landline communications services.

Since Verizon began building its fiber network in Virginia, the company has placed more than 17.3 million feet of fiber optics and created more than 600 new full-time positions to build and support the network and FiOS services in the state.

The network brings the power and capacity of fiber optics directly into people's homes and has industry-leading quality and reliability. Fiber delivers amazingly sharp pictures and sound, and has the capacity to transmit a wide array of high-definition programming that is so clear and intense it seems to leap from the TV screen.

The network also features blazing fast Internet access, with downstream (download) speeds of up to 5, 15 and 30 Mbps (megabits per second) and upstream (upload) speeds of up to 5 Mbps*, as well as high-quality voice services.

Verizon has obtained video franchises covering more than 1.3 million households in California, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia.

Verizon currently offers FiOS TV in a number of communities in Maryland, California, Florida, Massachusetts, New York and Texas, with more to follow.