CWA Cheers New York Probe of Verizon Copper
The Communications Workers of America cheered an investigation into Verizon service quality by the New York Public Service Commission. In a Monday order, the PSC said it will examine the quality of Verizon’s legacy copper services and Verizon’s willingness to make upgrades to copper in areas where it hasn’t rolled out fiber. A similar investigation of Verizon is ongoing in Pennsylvania (see 1602230036), and there is a petition for a third in Maryland (see 1511160039).
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“We think this [PSC probe] is long overdue,” said Bob Master, CWA legislative and political director-district one. “We have been flagging what we see as fairly catastrophic service quality problems throughout the system for the better part of 10 years.” Master said Wednesday that he expects a “lengthy” proceeding of several weeks or even months.
The New York PSC said it will consider changing Verizon’s service quality improvement plan, which was adopted in 2010 after the commission gave Verizon low marks for timeliness-of-repair performance. Verizon didn’t comment.
“This proceeding will explore whether competition is providing a sufficient incentive for Verizon to maintain its non-Core customer service quality, why certain non-Core customers are not exercising choice, what efforts Verizon is making to retain those customers, and what efforts the Company is making to ensure the continued viability of the copper network,” the PSC wrote in the order. “This investigation will inherently include an examination as to the state of the copper system and whether Verizon’s investment in its network has been sufficient to provide adequate levels of service to consumers on regulated services.”
The CWA asked the New York PSC for a formal proceeding on telecom deregulation in a July 2014 petition signed by several New York municipalities and consumer groups. The PSC held several hearings on the subject last summer. “Because of the hearings that the PSC held in the summer of 2015 around the state, they finally have acknowledged that there is a serious problem,” Master said.
The New York investigation follows statements by Verizon that it no longer plans to expand its fiber network beyond currently served areas. "Approximately 2.7 million of Verizon’s current customers are left relying on an aging copper network with what is alleged to be sub-par service quality," the New York commission said in the order. The pace of Verizon’s access line losses has slowed and fewer customers are leaving its network, the PSC said. “Notwithstanding competition, millions of Verizon’s customers, most of whom are non-Core customers, may very well opt to rely on the copper network for critical voice services. ... Whether these customers will or are able to exercise competitive options, and whether Verizon is actively taking measures to retain these customers and keep the copper network viable, have now become a focus for the Commission in the absence of further fiber deployment."
The commission cited improving Verizon service quality for core customers, defined as “those residential and business customers without wireline competitive choice (i.e., white spot areas), those on Lifeline and those customers who are characterized as having special needs (e.g., medical conditions, elderly, blind or disabled).” But for the non-core who are regulated access-line customers and comprise the remaining 94 percent of Verizon’s wireline base, service has failed “the Commission’s long-standing service quality standards despite the fact that competition has become more robust,” the PSC said.
“This suggests that there may be an unwillingness on the part of Verizon to compete to retain and adequately serve its regulated wireline customer base and warrants further investigation into Verizon’s service quality processes and programs.” As a result, the state commission said its service quality oversight of Verizon “has reached another inflection point and ... the underlying premise for the continuation of Verizon’s service quality focus on Core customers is now being called into question.”
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission is also holding hearings to look into the quality of Verizon copper, following a CWA petition. In November, the CWA asked the Maryland PSC to reopen an investigation.