Verizon Communications NA awards Prysmian $300m contract

IN DEPTH

Prysmian Group has been awarded a supply agreement by US telecom company Verizon Communications to support its ‘One Fiber’ project. To support this project and the growth of major telecoms carriers in North America, Prysmian will make significant investments in its US based optical cable organization throughout 2018.

Hakan Ozmen

CEO OF PRYSMIAN GROUP NORTH AMERICA

The contract is worth approximately $300 million and will include supply of more than 17 million fibre kilometres of ribbon and loose tube cables. Duration has been set at three years, with possibility of an extension. Prysmian Group has a strong heritage in manufacturing optical fibre and cable for a broad range of applications. Prysmian Group has two fiber optic manufacturing facilities in the United States covering 1.5m square feet, including the only co-located fiber and cable facility in North America. Two facilities produce optical cable and one optical fibre.

“As a recognized global leading producer of optical cables, supporting the most advanced infrastructure of many of the world’s telecom operators, Prysmian Group is proud to have been chosen by Verizon as partner for the development of a such strategic project”, says Hakan Ozmen, CEO of Prysmian Group North America.

Affordable next-generation services

Verizon Fios (Fiber Optic Service) is a bundled Internet Access, telephone, and television service that operates over a fiber optic communications network. To deploy this throughout the city of Boston, the company plans to invest $300 million over the next six years. In this city, Verizon launched its ‘One Fiber’ optical infrastructure last year. Zones across the city will be consecutively ‘fibred up’. The company claims that its 100% fiber-optic network will transform Boston into one of America’s most technologically advanced cities. The new architecture is designed to improve Verizon’s 4G LTE coverage, speed the deployment of 5G, and deliver high-speed broadband to homes and businesses of all sizes.

According to the company website, Fios is so powerful that it enables Internet speeds 20 times faster than what most people have today, allowing customers to connect 100 devices at once. Verizon’s fiber-optic technology has received recognition from leading US customer satisfaction surveys: JD Power ranked Fios ‘Highest in Customer Satisfaction’ for the third year in a row and PC Magazine has ranked Fios #1 for internet speed ten years in a row.

“Everyone deserves the fastest Internet available,” says Ken Dixon, Verizon senior vice president and group president of the company’s consumer markets line of business. “No cable provider comes close to offering the speeds and power of Fios Gigabit connection on this kind of scale.”

Taking fibre across the USA

The company’s ultimate goal is to build a next-generation broadband network throughout the USA. Bob Varettoni, Verizon’s spokesperson for financial, strategic and governance issues, shared some insights with industry publication Fierce Telecom: “Priorities for Verizon are growth opportunities in 5G - fixed 1GB service, smart cities and low-latency applications for commercial use in transportation and other industries - and 4G LTE densification to add network capacity nationwide.”

The contract is worth approximately $300 million and will include supply of more than 17 million fibre kilometres of ribbon and loose tube cables. Duration has been set at three years, with possibility of an extension. Prysmian Group has a strong heritage in manufacturing optical fibre and cable for a broad range of applications. Prysmian Group has two fiber optic manufacturing facilities in the United States covering 1.5m square feet, including the only co-located fiber and cable facility in North America. Two facilities produce optical cable and one optical fibre.

“As a recognized global leading producer of optical cables, supporting the most advanced infrastructure of many of the world’s telecom operators, Prysmian Group is proud to have been chosen by Verizon as partner for the development of a such strategic project”, says Hakan Ozmen, CEO of Prysmian Group North America.

Affordable next-generation services

Verizon Fios (Fiber Optic Service) is a bundled Internet Access, telephone, and television service that operates over a fiber optic communications network. To deploy this throughout the city of Boston, the company plans to invest $300 million over the next six years. In this city, Verizon launched its ‘One Fiber’ optical infrastructure last year. Zones across the city will be consecutively ‘fibred up’. The company claims that its 100% fiber-optic network will transform Boston into one of America’s most technologically advanced cities. The new architecture is designed to improve Verizon’s 4G LTE coverage, speed the deployment of 5G, and deliver high-speed broadband to homes and businesses of all sizes.

According to the company website, Fios is so powerful that it enables Internet speeds 20 times faster than what most people have today, allowing customers to connect 100 devices at once. Verizon’s fiber-optic technology has received recognition from leading US customer satisfaction surveys: JD Power ranked Fios ‘Highest in Customer Satisfaction’ for the third year in a row and PC Magazine has ranked Fios #1 for internet speed ten years in a row.

“Everyone deserves the fastest Internet available,” says Ken Dixon, Verizon senior vice president and group president of the company’s consumer markets line of business. “No cable provider comes close to offering the speeds and power of Fios Gigabit connection on this kind of scale.”

Taking fibre across the USA

The company’s ultimate goal is to build a next-generation broadband network throughout the USA. Bob Varettoni, Verizon’s spokesperson for financial, strategic and governance issues, shared some insights with industry publication Fierce Telecom: “Priorities for Verizon are growth opportunities in 5G - fixed 1GB service, smart cities and low-latency applications for commercial use in transportation and other industries - and 4G LTE densification to add network capacity nationwide.”