CWA Calls on Virginia State Corporation Commission to Keep Regulatory Oversight of Verizon Service

Contact: Jeff Miller or Candice Johnson, CWA Communications, 202-434-1168, jmiller@cwa-union.org and cjohnson@cwa-union.org 

Washington, D.C. – The Communications Workers of America is urging the Virginia State Corporation Commission to continue to carry out its obligations to protect Virginia telephone service customers by rejecting Verizon’s radical request for total deregulation of basic voice and other services for residential and business customers.

In a filing submitted to the SCC, the union demonstrated that Verizon had exaggerated the current level of competition for basic voice services to residential and small business customers in the Commonwealth, particularly for customers in rural areas and lower-income markets.

CWA acknowledged that wireline communications is in a period of transition from circuit-switched copper network to Internet Protocol (IP) broadband networks, but noted that Verizon is not building its next-generation fiber networks in most of the communities in the Commonwealth. “There is a continuing need, especially in this transitional environment, for regulatory oversight” that ensures that all Virginians have access to affordable, quality voice telephone service and not be left stranded on a deteriorating copper network, CWA said.

While Verizon claims that Virginia households across the state have access to alternative voice services – through local carriers, wireless, broadband and Voice over Internet Protocol providers – the Federal Communications Commission has determined that most wireless, most VoIP and broadband Internet access are not complete substitutes for local service.

An analysis by the SCC based on actual competition would clearly show that residential and small business customers do not have sufficient competitive alternatives for local voice service, CWA said.

A panel of CWA-represented technicians based in Richmond, Virginia Beach, Lynchburg, Falls Church and Roanoke – averaging 18 years’ service with Verizon -- concurred that Verizon is not allocating capital resources to maintain the copper network, because the company’s priority is FiOS, CWA told the SCC. Customers are experiencing deteriorating service because of this focus, another reason for the SCC to maintain its regulatory oversight over basic telephone service, CWA said.

CWA called on the SCC to reject Verizon’s call for deregulation of basic telephone service, noting that a similar attempt by Verizon to skirt regulatory oversight for the sale or transfer of assets also was rejected by the Commonwealth.