By JIM FINKLE-The Orange County Register July 20

Huntington Beach is about to become a battleground for something other than surfing.

Men and women in hard hats are climbing poles in Surf City as Verizon rushes to transform itself into a 21st-century communications company that delivers phone, data and even video programming. The effort is aimed at keeping it competitive with cable operators such as Time Warner.

Verizon's technicians are pioneers in building a type of fiber- optic network that analysts say one day will be used to connect phone companies with all of their customers.

Story continues