Group Questions How Cost of Copper Lines Is Calculated
The Irregulators raised questions about the retirement of copper lines by major providers in a filing posted Friday in docket 80-286. The group pointed to a regulatory accounting filing that Verizon made in New York, suggesting that the costs of copper networks are often overstated. LTC Consulting and X-labs are among those supporting the Irregulators' work (see 2505070017).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
“How is it possible that Local Service, the basic, copper-based, wireline state telecommunications, voice phone service is paying the majority of all expenses, even if it is no longer for sale or being maintained,” the filing asks: “Does $128 million for Marketing … or almost $800 million in Corporate Operations, representing over 60% of the total expense, seem reasonable?” The Irregulators said “voodoo mathematics” requires that “billions of dollars of expenses in the state public telecommunications utility be divided up among the different lines of business.”