No Need to Probe Maryland Copper Retirement Notices, Verizon Says
Verizon violated no FCC rules when it sent copper retirement notices to Maryland consumers, the company told the state Public Service Commission. In a Wednesday letter, the company urged the PSC to dismiss an Oct. 28 petition by the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel (OPC) to investigate the notices -- sent in September -- that told consumers fiber would replace copper service Dec. 14. “Customers are always given at least the FCC-required period of notice before they are required to migrate,” Verizon said. Commissions in other East Coast states also received calls to probe Verizon copper and fiber upgrade practices.
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OPC last month urged the Maryland PSC to “open an investigation into the untimely and contradictory notices that [Verizon] is sending to thousands of its Maryland retail customers advising them of the imminent and ‘mandatory’ replacement of their legacy copper telephone voice service with fiber.” Verizon sent the letters to “thousands of households in wire center areas of Bethesda, Columbia, Glen Burnie, Rockville and Towson, Maryland,” OPC said in the Oct. 28 petition. OPC also asked the commission to suspend the notices and their effective dates. The commission Nov. 9 asked Verizon to respond.
Verizon denied wrongdoing and stressed the benefits of fiber for consumers. “In certain Maryland wire centers, Verizon is retiring copper and replacing it with state-of-the-art fiber-optic facilities,” the company said. “Prior to the actual date of retirement, Verizon must migrate customers’ services from copper to fiber facilities. There is no charge to customers for the migration of their services and customers continue to receive the same voice services at the same prices, terms, and conditions over fiber facilities as they did over copper.”
Verizon pledged to make notices clearer. “Verizon shares OPC’s goal of informing customers of the need to migrate and ensuring that they are not confused about the date by which they need to take action,” it said. “Verizon is working to make some uniform clarifications to its initial notice letters to remedy any risk of confusion. Verizon also continues to work with Commission staff on fiber migration issues.”
The Communications Workers of America supported the OPC petition in a Nov. 16 letter in docket 9133, renewing the union’s call to investigate Verizon copper and the company’s “fiber is the only fix” policy that allegedly forces customers with copper problems to upgrade to fiber. “The CWA on a number of occasions has requested that the Commission conduct a thorough investigation of Verizon Maryland’s policies and practices regarding its copper network,” the union said.
Meanwhile, the New York Public Service Commission probe of Verizon copper could be delayed. The CWA, which asked for the investigation, this week sought an extension of the deadline for initial testimony to Jan. 16 from Dec. 9. "In spite of good faith efforts by all parties, discovery is incomplete,” CWA said in the motion posted Tuesday in docket 16-00424. The holiday season and a dispute between the parties over one CWA consultant’s access to confidential Verizon information also support delaying the proceeding, CWA said. Verizon told the union it supports the extension, CWA said.
New Jersey Board of Public Utilities staff “is monitoring progress of continuing discussions between the company and petitioners” seeking a state investigation, a board spokeswoman said Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the New Jersey Office of Rate Counsel, which requested a Verizon probe in September, said she had no update on the matter. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has Verizon hearings scheduled for the week of Feb. 6 in Harrisburg.