Panning for MDU gold

LIGHTING UP THE BIG APPLE

Verizon has proposed a 12-year video franchise agreement with New York City that will extend its fiber-to-the-premises network to 3.1 million households, many of them MDUs. If the city and its Franchise and Concession Review Committee approve the proposal, it would then go to the New York Public Service Commission for review.

If that process goes smoothly, Verizon could begin providing FiOS TV service this year, as soon as it has upgraded its wire centers to be video-capable.

Verizon has committed to building FiOS out to the entire city by 2014 and to provide a fiber optic institutional network for the city's public safety needs. FiOS is already available in 11 Manhattan neighborhoods, 10 neighborhoods in the Bronx, 17 in Brooklyn, 11 in Queens and 18 in Staten Island. In these areas, Verizon is delivering voice and FiOS high-speed Internet access in advance of getting its video franchise.

According to Verizon, the company has installed FiOS in hundreds of MDU buildings throughout New York City and will be moving aggressively to connect more. In March it announced plans to extend FiOS to 11,232 apartments in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, its largest MDU deployment.

In general, MDUs make up 25% of Verizon households, according to Eric Cevis, vice president of Verizon Enhanced Communities, but in New York City that number goes up to 35%.