Verizon has added a few more items to Motorola Inc. ‘s to-do list for the telco’s ambitious rollout of fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) technology.
Under a five-year deal, Motorola will supply electronics for Verizon central offices, including the vendor’s line of optical line terminals and video-optimized optical amplifiers. Motorola entered the FTTP sector for good in March 2004 with the purchase of closely-held Quantum Bridge Communications.
Last year, Verizon selected Motorola to build out the video network infrastructure portion of its FTTP networks, a deal that included Motorola headend technology and digital set-tops. In 2003, Verizon announced a handful of “primary” vendors for its FTTP effort, including Advanced Fibre Communications (now part of Tellabs), Sumitomo Electric Lightwave, Pirelli Communications Cable and Systems North America and Fiber Optic Networks Solutions.
Verizon’s FTTP network presently passes more than 1 million homes and businesses, and it plans to extend that figure to 3 million by year-end. It expects to launch video services in the second half of the year.