The town of Raynham, Mass., will get Verizon (NYSE: VZ) FiOS service after the town's board of selectmen signed a local franchise agreement with the telco.
While it has largely halted new FiOS rollouts, including larger cities such as Boston, a spokesperson for the carrier said that Verizon decided to complete its buildout of the surrounding area.
"We had already built out most of Raynham so we recently decided to finish the build and seek a franchise agreement," Phil Santoro, Verizon media relations, told FierceTelecom. "Same thing happened in Medford last year."
Verizon will offer consumers in Raynham its FiOS voice, video and data triple play bundles.
The telco claims that its growing content library will help it compete against cable incumbent Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA). It said it can deliver over 590 total channels, including 160 high-definition channels, throughout Massachusetts.
Although it did not specify what triple play plans it will make available in Raynham, the telco said consumers can bundle FiOS TV service, FiOS Internet service and the FiOS Digital Voice unlimited calling plan starting at $89.99 a month if they sign a two-year contract. From a broadband data perspective, the service provider offers a range of speeds from as low as 15 Mbps up to 300 and 500 Mbps under its Quantum brand.
In addition to consumers, the service provider is extending the service to area small to medium sized businesses, which have had no options besides slower DSL data or working with an area cable operator such as Comcast.
It will offer eligible SMBs the option to purchase their Solutions Bundle, which includes FiOS TV, Internet and Unlimited Nationwide Calling. The bundle also includes Internet Security Suite and Online Backup.
Having FiOS available to area SMBs means that Verizon will be able to more effectively compete with cable operators for new SMB revenues. In markets where it does not offer FiOS to SMBs, cable has been effectively stealing away customers with higher speed services via their existing DOCSIS infrastructure.
FiOS continues to be one of Verizon's key wireline revenue drivers. During the third quarter, the service provider reported that FiOS fiber to the home (FTTH) broadband revenues rose 13.4 percent to $2.8 billion.
For more:
- see the release
Editor's Corner: Verizon's SMB play faces challenge from cable in non-FiOS markets
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