Verizon Wireless on Tuesday said it has completed a $220 million investment this year to enhance the company's digital network in Florida, where the company plans to introduce broadband computing and other advanced services.

Verizon, based in Bedminster, N.J., said it plans to continue building out the network in 2005, as part of a more than $1 billion investment over five years in Florida network upgrades.

"Florida is an especially important market due to its rapid growth, tech-savvy businesses and demand for the latest wireless technology, and we're working hard and investing a lot to bring the best of it all here," Mike Lanman, Florida region president for Verizon, said in a statement.

Network upgrades in the state this year include about 115 new transmission sites, increasing the company's coverage area to 95 percent of Florida's inhabitable landmass. More transmission sites are scheduled to be built next year, when additional coverage is planned for southwest Florida and along corridors from the Tampa Bay area to Tallahassee and across the Panhandle.

A new $25 million switching facility was completed in late 2004 in Jacksonville to better receive and route calls across North Florida. In 2005, the company plans to begin building new network switching facilities in Orlando and Fort Myers.

The network upgrades are to improve call quality, increase coverage areas and allow a variety of advanced services such as wireless broadband computing, text and video messaging and other applications, officials with Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone, said.