Projo Biz Blog

State regulators have given Verizon Communications the second of three approvals the company needs before it can begin providing cable TV service to 115,000 households in 10 more Rhode Island communities.

The Division of Public Utilities and Carriers yesterday granted Verizon a "construction certificate" for service areas 1 and 4. Those areas include Burrillville, Central Falls, Cumberland, East Providence, Glocester, Lincoln, North Smithfield, Pawtucket, Smithfield and Woonsocket.

The certificate allows Verizon to begin construction of its cable TV network. But because Verizon's TV service will travel over the same network that now carries telephone traffic, little work remains to be done.

Verizon still needs one more approval from the DPUC before service can begin in those communities.

State regulators have shortened the process for obtaining permission to offer cable television service. Last month, the DPUC amended its cable TV rules by eliminating a requirement that cable companies let the Division know 60 days in advance of the time it is ready to begin service. Verizon will be the first company to be able to take advantage of that rule change.

Last summer,Verizon began providing its FiOS TV service in service area 6, made up of about 80,000 households in Coventry, East Greenwich, Exeter, North Kingstown, Warwick, West Greenwich and West Warwick.

In January, the company started service in areas 2, 3, and 8, which covers 158,000 households in Charlestown, Cranston, Foster, Hopkinton, Johnston, Narragansett, North Providence, Providence, Richmond, Scituate, South Kingstown and Westerly.

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