Verizon announced it is rolling out a fiber-optic network - known as fiber to the premises, or FTTP -- to many customers in the communities of Emerson, Haworth, Montvale, Midland Park, Oakland, Paramus, Park Ridge, River Vale, Saddle River, South Hackensack, Upper Saddle River and Waldwick.

Verizon also announced it is deploying FTTP to 19 more communities in five other counties: Denville, Hanover, Harding, Long Hill, Mendham Borough, Parsippany-Troy Hills and Rockaway in Morris County; Bernards in Somerset County; Colts Neck, Fair Haven, Little Silver, Middletown, Red Bank, Rumson, Sea Bright and Shrewsbury Borough in Monmouth County; Hopewell Township in Mercer County; and Cherry Hill and Voorhees in Camden County.

The all-fiber network will deliver faster data speeds and crystal clear voice, and also has the capability to offer a full suite of video services, a competitive choice to existing cable television providers. The company will seek a franchise agreement before offering cable TV service in a selected community.

Today's announcements bring to 55 the number of communities in New Jersey identified by the company for deployment of its all-fiber network. In March, Verizon announced the first 24 communities: Allendale, Alpine, Closter, Demarest, Franklin Lakes, Harrington Park, Mahwah, Northvale, Norwood, Oakland, Old Tappan, Ramsey, Rockleigh, Westwood and Wyckoff in Bergen County; the city of Passaic; Ewing, Lawrence and Pennington in Mercer County; Mendham Township and Rockaway Borough in Morris County; Tinton Falls in Monmouth County; and Evesham and Medford in Burlington County.

FTTP uses hair-thin strands of fiber and optical electronics to directly link homes and businesses to Verizon's network. The state-of-the-art network upgrade will unleash a range of advanced communication services.

Verizon is already building its FTTP network in half the states where the company 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 hundreds in New Jersey.

Verizon's digital subscriber line (DSL) service will remain the company's most widely available form of high-speed Internet access for the foreseeable future while the company ramps up FTTP deployment. The company offers DSL on a widespread basis in New Jersey.

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