Verizon rolls out FIOS to Stuy Town, Cooper

Verizon is installing fiber here. Maybe they are setting up for the future FIOS roll-out?

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Crain's New York Business
Verizon rolls out FIOS to Stuy Town, Cooper
Amanda Fung
Published: March 24, 2008 - 3:29 pm

Verizon Communications Inc. has been quietly rolling out its fiber-optic Internet service to residents of apartment buildings throughout the city. The company’s announcement Monday that it will bring service to Manhattan’s Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village apartment complex, may be Verizon’s largest coup in a major metropolitan area, but it is not its first.

The company refused to disclose how many buildings in the city are connected for competitive reasons, but identified a half a dozen other buildings in New York where FIOS Internet is available. Those properties include Place 57 at 57th Street between Third and Second avenues; The Crest Lofts at 67 Wall St., two Trump properties in Manhattan; Arverne By the Sea in the Rockaways, Queens and Octagon Park on Roosevelt Island.

Penetrating the multiple dwelling units with fiber across the nation is crucial to the success of Verizon’s $23 billion project to upgrade its copper wire system to offer higher speed Internet service and cable television. These types of buildings represent 25% of the households that the telecom giant currently serves nationwide, said Eric Cevis, head of the FIOS unit that markets and sells the service to apartment buildings.

The company is currently negotiating a cable franchise with the city since 2006 so it can offer television service in New York. Earlier this month, Verizon said it was optimistic that the city will issue a solicitation for new cable providers by the end of this month so that it can apply for the franchise.

Place 57, a new 63-unit luxury condo on the East Side of Manhattan, was the first building in the city to offer FIOS Internet, Verizon said. It has been selling the service since December 2005.

Last year, residents of the newly renovated rental units at The Crest Lofts on Wall Street could sign up for Verizon FIOS Internet. The Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complex, with 11,232 units, is by far the largest property in the city to get fiber. Verizon says it is offering FIOS in buildings across the five boroughs.

Critics have questioned whether Verizon could surpass technical hurdles and efficiently bring fiber into large multiple dwelling units. Some noted it is also more cost prohibitive to install fiber, as much as $100 a foot to wire buildings versus $8 a foot to wire single-family homes, in these types of buildings. However, Verizon said new technology has brought down the costs and these are no longer concerns. Its major challenge in the city has been getting permission from property owners, Verizon said.

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