Verizon and Boston mayor Martin Walsh announce the expansion of FiOS to the city, promising "enormous bandwidth and speeds."
The carrier is investing more than $300 million for over six years to replace the copper in the infrastructure with fiber optics. Meanwhile, the city will provide expedited permitting to speed up the completion of the project and to encourage the development.
"Boston is moving faster than our current infrastructure can support, and a modern fiber-optic communications platform will make us a next-level city. Additionally, it is a priority to ensure that every resident has expanded access to broadband and increasing competition is critical to reaching that goal. I thank Verizon for their investment in Boston and for partnering with the city to provide the foundation for future technology growth," Mayor Walsh says.
According to the announcement, the project will initially kick off in Dorchester, West Roxbury and the Dudley Square of the Roxbury neighborhood this year. After that, it will continue in Hyde Park, Mattapan and other locations of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury.
As everyone can see, the implementation is carried out by neighborhood. That way, efforts can be focused on one place at a time to quicken the entire process.
On that note, Verizon has a website that residents and businesses in Boston can sign up at and show their interest in the project. The carrier set this up to determine which areas it should prioritize.
Before this agreement was finalized, chances of FiOS spreading throughout the majority of Boston seemed to be next to zero. At the time, city officials were asking the carrier to employ the service in the area with a hint of desperation.
"We never said we would go everywhere, and we don't have any intention of expanding FiOS here or anywhere else. We continue to be focused on building out where we have contractual agreements," Peter Bowman, Verizon VP, said back in October 2015.
Needless to say, the case is now different.
It's also worth mentioning that the FiOS Custom TV options have been improved, providing more choices for subscribers everywhere.
If you're in Boston, let us know in the comments section below whether you'd like FiOS to be available in your neighborhood soon.
Photo: Mike Mozart | Flickr
