Covad Communications Group extended its
digital subscriber line footprint in New England Wednesday.
As a result of the Federal Communications
Commission line sharing order in November 1999, Covad secured a co-location agreement with Bell Atlantic Corp. in May. At the
time of the line sharing deal, Covad promised to have its DSL services
deployed in July.
Bell Atlantic merged with GTE Corp.
late in June to
transfer its collective companies into Verizon Communications.
Covad also signed similar line sharing agreements with U S West, which is currently owned by Qwest Communications as
the result of yet another major telecom merger.
With today’s announcement, Covad now provides high-speed Internet services
to select cities in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
Keith Markley, Covad eastern region president and general manager, said the
deployment was a significant step in its national campaign to unleash
broadband access to the Internet.
“Covad’s presence in the Bell Atlantic area marks another stop forward in
the national reach of our broadband network,” Markley said.
“Our expansion into the new cities exemplifies Covad’s commitment to
unparalleled quality and accessibility in providing national broadband
Internet access,” Markley added. “We anticipate the availability of our
services will help people tap the large potential of the Internet and be a
catalyst for conversion of dial-up users to the broadband network.”
Covad currently reaches more than 300,000 businesses and three million
residential customers in the New England area.