LAS VEGAS, Jan. 8 -- Verizon will invest $3 billion over the next two years to bring broadband to the mass market, chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg announced today at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2004, being held this week in Las Vegas. Seidenberg said Verizon's two new major network expansions are key to bringing the benefits "the broadband era" to homes and businesses across America. Seidenberg also announced a new service, iobism, and new product, Verizon One, that will help help families and businesses create a personal network to manage their communications devices and activities. The network expansion initiatives involve both Verizon’s wireless and wireline networks. Verizon Wireless will expand its third-generation (3G) mobile data BroadbandAccess network nationwide. In addition to its ongoing annual capital investment program to build network capacity and coverage, the company will invest $1 billion over the next two years to further deploy its broadband technology, known as EV-DO (evolution-data optimized). Seidenberg said Verizon also will dramatically accelerate the evolution of its nationwide wireline network to packet-switching technology and has selected Nortel Networks as its voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) equipment provider. Both moves are major steps toward creating a new growth-market for communications services in the wireless and broadband era, Seidenberg said. "In 2003, we expanded DSL capabilities to 80 percent of our lines, and we continue expanding its availability today," Seidenberg said. "With our plans for EV-DO, packet technologies and fiber optic lines, Verizon will commit some $3 billion of capital over the next two years to bring broadband to the mass market. Verizon’s next-generation networks will provide a common infrastructure for voice, data and video services. They will link to all kinds of devices -- anywhere, anytime -- and they will enable a whole new generation of flexible, highly reliable services that can ride on our infrastructure. "Our goal is to let users tap the intelligence in our network wherever they are and put the power of two-way multimedia communications in people’s hands," he said. For more information, visit: www.cesweb.org