If you were near an area where Verizon was serving customers with its fast Verizon FiOS broadband Internet service and hoped that the company might expand to serve your region, you may be out of luck. The Washington Post reports that the company has decided to stop expanding and building on the infrastructure of its FiOS business. The process will take about two years to complete.
Launched in 2005, Verizon FiOS has given its customers one of the fastest broadband Internet services in the US and was one of the first to offer fiber-based Internet services directly to residential homes. It also offers not only fast download speeds (up to 150 Mbps) but also very quick upload speeds of up to 35 Mpbs, depending on the type of service. It currently has about 3.8 million customers.
In remarks made during the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York on Wednesday, Verizon"s Chief Executive Lowell McAdam said that while the company won"t be expanding the FiOS business any further beyond the two years it has already planned to do so, it will be maintaining the areas that currently have the service available to them. It will also "rigorously promote" FiOS in the service areas where it competes with other cable TV and Internet companies.