CWA Calls on State Regulators to Investigate Verizon's Refusal to Maintain Landlines

CWA is filing letters with telephone regulators in six states and Washington, DC, calling for investigations into the deterioration of Verizon's copper landline networks. In July, Verizon admitted in a letter to the FCC that it had only spent $200 million over the last seven years to maintain its copper landline network in eleven states and the District of Columbia.

The $200 million investment is less than one percent of the amount phone and DSL customers pay Verizon for service, which means the average customer is financing wireless and fiber expansion, rather than the upkeep of the network on which they rely.

In light of the new evidence presented by CWA to regulators, scores of legislators across the region joined the call for renewed investigation into Verizon's abandonment of the copper network.

"Verizon pulls in more than a billion dollars in profits each month. $200 million represents less than half a percent of the $50 billion Verizon spent on its wireline network from 2008 to 2014 and less than one percent of what they charge the average voice customer," said CWA District 1 Vice President Dennis Trainor. District 2-13 Vice President Ed Mooney made it clear that"We support Verizon's expansion of FiOS, but the company also has a legal obligation to provide safe, reliable service over its traditional landline network."

Read the letters here and here.

Nearly 100 percent of Verizon's wireline investment was spent to build its fiber network. Verizon has refused to deploy its all-fiber FiOS network, but it has the statutory obligation to maintain its copper plant to provide safe, reliable service. (Verizon spent $59.9 billion on its wireless network, 2008-2014.)

Read more here, here and here.