Verizon reveals HD VOD plans

June 20, 2007 - Verizon, a US broadband and telecoms company, has revealed that the next service it plans for its FiOS network is high definition video-on-demand (VOD).

The comments were made by Verizon’s CTO, Mark Wegleitner, at the NXTcomm show in Chicago, US, following a press dinner on 18 June.  Mr. Wegleitner said that a high-definition VOD service is “in the lab stage” and that the current fibre network “could support it right now”.  The launch date is not yet decided for the new service, according to the company executive.

Mr. Wegleitner also commented that Verizon plans to move beyond a Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) within a “three to five year timeframe”, and towards Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (WDM).  WDM is expected to give each customer its own wavelength to the home, providing about 1 Gbit/s for each individual household.