WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Verizon received approval from the city of Manassas on Monday evening to offer its fiber optic television service.

The telecom company already offers FiOS in a number of homes in the D.C. area, including parts of Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William, Loudon, Leesburg, Montgomery, Howard and Prince George’s counties, according to Verizon spokesman Harry Mitchell.

Approximately 1,000 homes in Manassas were already receiving service prior to the City Council’s decision, Mitchell said, because Virginia has a law that allows alternative providers to give service before the license is officially approved.

“It’s certainly good news, but we’ve got a lot more work to do,” Mitchell said.

Verizon is still negotiating, for example, with D.C. government officials to offer the product in the District. Mitchell had no update on those talks, saying they are ongoing.

Verizon does not reveal specific subscriber numbers for the area, Mitchell said, though there were 1.2 million FiOS TV customers and 7.9 million FiOS Internet customers nationwide by the end of the year’s first quarter.

The spread of FiOS across the region could mean trouble for Comcast, the dominant player in the area’s cable television industry. Comcast spokesman Jaye Linnen would not disclose how the firm’s subscriber numbers have changed since FiOS came on the scene, though she said Comcast has around 1.1 million total customers in the Potomac region.

“From a competitive standpoint, we are very confident in our network and in the products and services we deliver today throughout Northern Virginia,” Linnen said. “The phone company is simply trying to catch up to where we have been for years.”

Herndon-based RCN, another cable provider in the region, did not return requests for comment Tuesday.

melissa.frederick@dcexaminer.com