January 29, 2007

Verizon Doubles FiOS TV Footprint in Q4

By Shirley Brady

Verizon reported fourth quarter 2006 earnings, offering a status report on its FiOS TV service:

• the company added 89,000 FiOS TV subscribers in Q4 for a year-end total of 217,000 subs, adding an average of 6,800 net new FiOS TV subscribers per week in the quarter

• FiOS TV achieved a penetration rate of 9% among the 2.4 million homes passed by the service by year-end

• FiOS TV doubled its homes passed in Q4, adding almost half of its 1.2 million new homes passed just in the last two weeks of December (having started the year with 110,000 FiOS TV subs)

• Penetration just in Texas, where FiOS TV launched in Keller, is "very, very high," boasting "probably well over 20%, 22%, 25%" according to Verizon's fourth quarter earnings call to analysts

• 6 out of every 10 FiOS TV orders also signed up for FiOS Internet

• Verizon had 687,000 FiOS broadband Internet subscribers by year-end, representing 14% penetration of homes passed; it added 165,000 net new FiOS Internet subs in Q4, averaging more than 12,000 per week

• Combined with Verizon DSL, the company had 7 million total broadband customers by Dec. 31, an increase of 1.8 million over year-end 2005

• Verizon's FTTP (fiber to the premises) network passed 6 million homes at year-end, more than doubling its 2005 footprint