The plan is to upgrade the company's existing network serving business and residents, delivering "a full suite of services," according to Dennis Bone, president of Verizon New Jersey, based here. The company also plans to compete with the likes of Cablevision when it adds television programming to the services.

"It's very clear where the market is going," Bone says. "This is part of the growth strategy for Verizon, and I think we've made the cable TV industry a little nervous."

Verizon is starting work immediately on bringing fiber-optics to 24 towns in six by sometime in June and to a total of 70 communities in 10 counties by the end of this year. It's part of an aggressive five-year effort to convert the company's existing copper phone line network into the newer technology.

The announcement comes about a year after Verizon suspended its plan to deploy fiber-to-the-premises in the Garden State. At the time, company officials were a little down on the state's regulatory climate and its ability to compete with other states for new business and investment.

"In the past year, there have been signs that the overall investment climate here has been improving," Bone says. "The new administration [of Acting Gov. Richard Codey] and key state leaders have shown a clear interest in improving the state's competitiveness by fostering more infrastructure investment and economic development."

"This investment will not only improve existing services for New Jersey's businesses and resident, it will also create new jobs and new opportunities for the state," Cody says in a statement. "It is important that New Jersey has the latest available technology infrastructure so that we stay competitively strong."

New Jersey joins 13 other states in which Verizon has launched fiber-optic installation. The initial 24 communities being wired are Allendale, Alpine, Closter, Demarest, Franklin Lakes, Harrington Park, Mahwah, Northvale, Norwood, Oakland, Old Tappan, Ramsey, Rockleigh, Westwood and Wyckoff in Bergen County; the City of Passaic; Ewing, Lawrence and Pennington in Mercer County; Mendham Township and Rockaway in Morris County; Tinton Falls in Monmouth County; and Evesham and Medford in Burlington County.