Verizon will aggressively exploit the technological advantages of its fiber-to-the-premises network to offer voice, data and video services that combine the best of IPTV with traditional cable, without the limitations of either, company officials said last week.

And the company will continue to press ahead with that technology, planning its initial deployments of new Gigabit passive optical network (GPON) systems by the fourth quarter of 2006, said Greg Evans, vice president of services and access technologies for Verizon, in a presentation last week at the carrier's Waltham, Mass., technology laboratory. Verizon also just closed a request for proposal (RFP) for a second remote control device and is actively researching the human factors involved in designing video and information services for the TV set in its Waltham lab.

“We have a superior technology advantage today, and as we migrate forward, we will continue to try to maintain that technology advantage,” Evans said. “We have a superior services advantage today, and as we migrate forward, we will continue to try to maintain that services advantage.”

In the near term, that means offering FiOS TV services that start with basic analog radio frequency (RF) channels — which other telcos using IPTV cannot providing — as will as IPTV-based video-on-demand (VOD) options, one-touch information services, multi-room digital video recorder (DVR) capabilities, 22 high-definition (HD) TV channels and more than 300 digital cable channels, said Joe Ambeault, director of interactive applications. Verizon currently offers FiOS TV in three markets: Keller, Texas; Hampton Roads, Va.; and, as of last week, Temple Terrace, Fla., a Tampa suburb.

Verizon initially is providing digital cable channels via an RF feed on one wavelength within its network, Evans said. Unlike cable operators, however, it doesn't use up digital channel capacity to also offer voice, VOD and information services, which consume 10 times the bandwidth of video channels.

“We wanted to offer analog because there is a group of people who don't want to have a set-top on every TV set,” he said. “They want that TV set in the kitchen or the basement to be able to get basic cable channels on a cable-ready TV.”

Verizon does surrender some of its 860 MHz of RF capacity to provide 24 channels of analog, but provides all other service — voice over IP, information services and VOD — via IP streams that don't consume any channel capacity. That's a distinct advantage over cable companies, he said.

Companies such as AT&T, which is planning to offer IPTV over a fiber-to-the-node network, can't deliver multiple HD channels as Verizon will be able to over its FiOS FTTP network, Evans said.

“We are not waiting for IPTV to mature,” he said. “IPTV works in small applications, but I don't know of anybody who is doing full-scale IPTV today. We have taken a path that is low-risk, that gives us speed-to-market and gets us experience today.”

By using IP streams within the home network, Verizon will soon be able to offer its TV customers multi-room DVR capability that can record two HD channels simultaneously, while delivering two others for immediate viewing, Ambeault said.

The next big hurdle for FiOS TV is getting video franchises, which Verizon is pursuing at federal, state and local levels, Ambeault said. The company is meeting with members of Congress to try to ensure that telecom reform includes a national video franchise provision, and it is currently pushing in New Jersey for a statewide franchise similar to what passed this fall in Texas. At the local level, Verizon is currently pursuing franchises in about 200 communities.

“As we build more of a critical mass, we are also building more enthusiasm among local officials,” said a Verizon spokesman. “We are also seeing some communities band together to save some steps in the process of issuing franchises.”

Verizon, AT&T and BellSouth participated jointly in a GPON RFP for which responses are due this month, Evans said. He expects to see the first GPON equipment for testing purpose in the second quarter of 2006.

“GPON will offer us 10 times as much capacity as we have now,” he said. The current ATM-based PON can deliver up to 100 MB/s of capacity. “We will need GPON for IPTV.”

The existing systems, initially provided by AFC and now including Motorola (through Optical Systems), are not upgradable to GPON and will likely remain in service for some years, Evans said.

Verizon is using the MOCA — multimedia over cable — specification for routing signals in the home and will integrate MOCA into set-top boxes by the second quarter 2006, he added. The MOCA specification is expected to be standardized in January.

FiOS TV also will features “widgets” — one-touch information services — that will allow customers to easily access information services immediately on the TV screen. Verizon is not yet offering one integrated feature that cable companies are pushing — Caller ID on the TV screen — because that hasn't risen to the top of customer interest lists as yet, Ambeault said.