Verizon (NYSE: VZ) may not be bringing FiOS to Boston proper anytime soon, but residential and business customers in the nearby city of Medford may be soon be able to take advantage of the service as the telco has applied for a license to operate in the city.

Medford mayor Michael J. McGlynn insists that one of the key points of the negotiation process is that Verizon will bring FiOS to a part of west Medford they have not built out to yet.

"That's the one part of this (agreement) that was critical for me," McGlynn told The Boston Globe. "It states that we will both continue to negotiate, to get the other 29 percent of the community wired."

Feeling that the city needed another video service alternative to satellite and the area's dominant cable provider Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), McGlynn asked Robert Mudge, president of Consumer and Mass Business Markets at Verizon to complete the FiOS buildout it began in Medford in 2009.

The telco stopped work on fiber to the premises (FTTP) network infrastructure in Medford in 2010 following a companywide decision to halt the buildout of FiOS in new communities and stop franchise negotiations with communities like Medford.

Although Verizon already offers FiOS in 111 Massachusetts towns and cities, Verizon spokesman Phil Santoro said it has no immediate plans to extend the service to other locations.

"We have finished franchising," Santoro wrote in an e-mail to the Globe. "Medford is the last one. We already started the process in Medford when we wrapped up the FiOS franchising efforts."

For more:
- The Boston Globe has this article

Related articles:
Verizon Q4 2011 wireline results get boost from FiOS video, broadband adds
Is cable the right complement to Verizon's FiOS network?
Verizon to fill in FiOS gaps with home LTE wireless service
Verizon's Q3 wireline story driven by consumer, business gains

Posted in News
No Comments Yet Posted by Don