Verizon Says Copper Neglect Isn’t Part of Fiber Upgrade Strategy
Verizon dismissed copper abandonment concerns that the Communications Workers of America raised at the Maryland Public Service Commission. The PSC had asked the company to respond to CWA allegations that the telco deceived customers with copper service problems into making the IP transition under a policy known as “Fiber is the Only Fix” (see 1606160054). In a response Wednesday, Verizon said it’s neither deceiving customers nor neglecting its copper network.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
The PSC is the first regulator to press Verizon specifically on its fiber migration practice for copper customers with service issues. “The Commission will review the filing and make a determination as to the appropriate next steps,” a PSC spokeswoman said Thursday. CWA, Public Knowledge and others also filed an informal complaint about the practice to the FCC (see 1605030019). “The FCC is now investigating the complaint,” said CWA Telecommunications Policy Director Debbie Goldman. The FCC didn’t comment. Verizon also faces state probes about its copper service quality more broadly in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
“There is no need for an investigation of Verizon’s practice of repairing some copper service issues by migrating the same service to fiber facilities,” Verizon told the Maryland PSC. Fiber improves service for customers, and the FCC has supported migrating customers to fiber to address customer service concerns, said Verizon, citing the FCC’s tech transition order released Aug. 7, 2015. “The FCC made clear that these case-by-case fiber repairs are permissible and do not require the notices that apply to a copper retirement.” The FCC issued another tech transition order at the commissioners' meeting Thursday (see 1607140066).
Verizon denied it allows its copper to degrade so it can move customers to fiber. “That is false,” the company said. “The inherent limitations of copper are not new and do not demonstrate neglect by Verizon. Verizon’s goal is to provide high quality service to customers over the best available network -- including over copper facilities -- so they remain loyal and satisfied Verizon customers. Contrary to CWA’s broad rhetoric, Verizon continues to take reasonable steps to ensure that its copper network is healthy, particularly in areas where fiber is not available.”
The company’s fiber migration practice is “a deceptive program,” CWA's Goldman said Thursday. “Maryland consumers deserve open, transparent service from Verizon.” FCC copper retirement rules preclude Verizon from circumventing “advance notice requirements when it has allowed the copper facilities to deteriorate through lack of proper maintenance,” she said. According to CWA and others who complained, when a customer calls in about a copper-related complaint, Verizon creates a “ghost” service order to transfer the customer to fiber, without the customer's knowledge. Then technicians inform customers with copper-related complaints that the company no longer repairs copper lines and the customer must upgrade to fiber; if the customer refuses to upgrade, the telco cuts the line, the complainants said.
The company described the practice differently, saying it moves a customer to fiber only if there’s not a simple fix for the copper, and the telco explains the situation to customers and asks them for consent before proceeding. Customers moved to fiber keep all their services, and Verizon doesn’t force them to change subscriptions to Fios-branded plans, the company said.
“When a qualifying customer reports a trouble with his or her voice service, Verizon dispatches a technician who evaluates the customer’s individual service problem on site,” the company said. “In some cases, particularly when a customer has a history of chronic service issues with his or her line, the technician personally informs the customer that migrating voice service from copper facilities to more reliable fiber may be the only solution. If the customer agrees, the technician will fix the trouble by migrating the customer’s voice service (at the same price, terms, and conditions) from copper to Verizon’s advanced and reliable all-fiber network at no cost to the customer. If the customer declines to transition to fiber facilities, Verizon may inform the customer that it will no longer be able to provide service.”
The assurances failed to comfort Public Knowledge, Staff Attorney Meredith Rose said in an interview Thursday. Verizon acts like these are “isolated incidents … which is fine, until you have 300 isolated incidents in one very narrow place,” she said. “What we’re talking about here is [Verizon] deliberately ignoring entire areas for sustained periods of time so that [it] can piecemeal replace it without having to actually do the regulatory legwork.”
Verizon questioned the timing of CWA’s complaint, which the union submitted in May during its East Coast strike. The CWA complaint was “yet another publicity stunt, intended to gain leverage in labor bargaining and lacking in substance,” Verizon said in its filing. Not so, Goldman said. The union has been testifying about Verizon copper deterioration at the Maryland PSC since 2009, "long before the strike," she said. CWA asked specifically for a copper service quality investigation in September, before the mid-April strike began but after the union’s contract expired in August 2015.
It’s not just CWA raising concerns about Verizon’s copper practices, said PK's Rose. Copper degradation “is something that a lot of public interest groups have been concerned about for quite some time," she said. "This is not new.”