Verizon continued to build out its New Jersey infrastructure in 2014

Verizon may be based in New York, but it has long had a strong New Jersey presence. That presence got even stronger in 2014, the telecommunications company said, as it invested more than $547 million in telecom infrastructure in the Garden State.In addition, Verizon said its Verizon Wireless unit invested more than $640 million in the New York metro region, which includes northern New Jersey, and more than $270 million in the Philadelphia Tri-State region, which includes southern New Jersey.

“Verizon is committed to driving economic growth in New Jersey through the ongoing, significant network investments we are making,” Paul Sullivan, president of Verizon’s Mid-Atlantic North region, said in a prepared statement. “The economic health of New Jersey is increasingly tied to robust and modern communications networks, and Verizon is strengthening communities by helping to move the state into an era of advanced technologies and communications services.”

By the end of 2014, Verizon said, its FiOS TV and Internet services were available to more than 2.1 million homes and businesses in New Jersey, and it has placed more than 22,000 miles of fiber-optic cables in the state.

“As one of the largest private capital investors in the state, Verizon continues to upgrade and strengthen our networks to enhance the customer experience and to keep a step ahead of the trends that are driving growth in our industry,” Sullivan said. “This creates opportunities to drive innovation and use the power of our network assets to create unique communications solutions for our customers across the Garden State.”

Verizon’s infrastructure projects included work on its wireline infrastructure programs, including completion of its all-fiber-optic network to every neighborhood in Newark, expansion of its fiber network to 102,000 new households statewide and placement of fiber-optic cable to 579 new cell towers that deliver 4G LTE wireless service across the state.

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