Verizon Communications Inc. announced last week that its capital-expenditure budget will rise by 15% over last year's $13.3 billon as it gears up for video rollouts over its FiOS TV architecture and Verizon Wireless.

Points made by Doreen Toben, Verizon's CFO on an earnings call:

The company has completed construction on two national headends, and it is far along in building regional video-hub offices. The company is on track to pass 3 million homes with fiber by year's end but marketing pitches won't hit multiple-dwelling units until the technology is completed in those buildings.

Verizon stands ready to launch a competitively priced video product later this year. "We're testing various aspects of video functionality, including provisioning, maintenance and system flow-through."

Verizon has secured eight franchises, and another 15 are nearing completion. Negotiations are under way in 200 other communities, she added, as well as lobbying work to get statewide franchise bills passed in Texas and New Jersey. In a press release last week Verizon said that it had begun franchise work with Fairfax, Va., a large Washington, D.C., suburb.

On the high-speed-data front, Verizon added 278,000 subscribers, and it now counts 4 million total on both its digital- subscriber-line and FiOS platforms. FiOS data penetration is 15% in Texas.